May Eternity be a Gift to You
by Adnori
Summary: When a young man in black and a dead Loki dropped out of a portal, the Avengers had to try and get everything back in place before Midgard will end up in chaos from the looming Thanos. Asgard and Jotunheim weren't spared in his wake. T to be safe. Includes other characters outside of Avengers and Marvel Universe. Please show support. And cover image & OC is mine, nothing else.
1. The Arrival of the Dead Prince

May Eternity be a Gift to You

OOO

Steve didn't like being called by Shield for an extremely emergent task on Sunday mornings, especially when that means dealing with others as well.

'Come on!' Tony whined. 'I was working on something important!'

'Well I believe this is more of a threat than you delaying your project.' Fury shouted from the other end of the intercom.

'What?' Clint asked.

'Energy signals spiked. We suspect a portal will be opening.'

'Where?'

'Just over a shopping street.'

OOO

He was definitely freaking out now. Noises were muffled inside his not-very-clear head. People swam around in his vision, pointing and shouting. He didn't quite get what they are saying. Probably in another language.

He looked down at the still body of his companion. He didn't need to check his pulse to know he was dead before they even crashed.

 _Dead._

He should be used to grieving now, living for millions of years. Yet why did it still hurt?

A man with a red cape landed on the ground just a few feet away.

What he just yelled meant nothing to him.

Hmm, flying abilities, stupid rock hammer, gold hair, red cape, skies darkening. Isn't this the Thunderer? Is this Asgard?

Another man landed next to him with a clang, his body glinting red and gold, his eyes and a circle in his chest glowed blue.

Why didn't he have a nose?

Shuffling came from the crowd. A man in blue and red ran out to join his comrades.

He shouted something, something he still couldn't quite interperate.

'…step away…'

So, English. This is Midgard then?

OOO

The Thunderer raised his hammer. The crowds finally seemed to get what was happening and started running for their lives.

Steve was still confused about everything. Why is there a crater in the street? Why is Loki still lying down and the other staring at us? Who is the other person in black?

Right, stop panicking. The soldier told himself. He doesn't have a weapon in sight. He definitely didn't get Thor's threats.

'Tony,' He turned to face Iron Man and whispered. 'What you've got?'

'Similar energy to those of Loki's. But-' Tony caught himself. 'I didn't get anything from Reindeer Games.'

'What?'

'No energy readings.' Tony explained. 'No shields, no pulse-'

'Step away from my brother!' Thor thundered, quite literally. 'Or you shall face my wrath!'

'Woah woah calm yourself Lighting Dude.' Tony patted him on the back. 'He doesn't seem to understand English.'

Thor took in a deep breath, and continued to shout, but in another language, maybe his mother tongue.

The man standing in the crater only frowned.

'I don't think he understands.' Steve observed.

'Then what are we suppose to do?' Tony raised his faceplate. 'Just stare at each other for the rest of the day?'

A loud whirling came from above. The trio looked up and found a helicopter float just above their heads.

'Tell me, what is decided now? Can we use the machine gun?' Clint's voice came over the intercom.

'Nothing so far.' Tony muttered. 'This dude doesn't understand English, or, whatever Goldilocks speaks at home.'

'Is Loki dead?' Natasha asked.

'We, can't confirm it.' Tony eyed cautiously at Thor, who looked like he's about to explode.

A number of black cars surrounded them. Agents took out their guns and aimed at the man, who eyed back at them all.

'Please!' Steve called out. 'Raise your hands above your head so we know you meant know harm.' He raised his own above his, trying to get the message through.

The man suddenly moved. Agents raised their guns.

He held something in his hand. A dart.

He looked at the man that fired it, who happened to be Coulson.

'What are you doing?' Steve shouted over the helicopter.

'Fury's orders.' He nodded at his fellow comrades. 'Knock him out.'

Then everything turned into chaos.

In the rain of bullets and tranquiller, the man held up his hand and formed an invisible shield. The bullets and tranquiller bounced off harmlessly.

Tony's faceplate lowered. He sent a jet of light at the shield, only to reflect off and take out an innocent street lamp.

Thor charged at the man and brought down his hammer. A wave of the force bounced back, shoved Captain and Iron Man off their feet and shattered the car windows. He pounded a few more times on the shield, and realizing it's futile, lowered his hammer and glowered.

'Step away from my brother…' He growled.

The man narrowed his eyes.

Then, without warning, Thor sent his hammer flying. Instead of bouncing off, it kept on going for its target.

Until the man sidestepped and caught it.

 _Caught it._

'Oh gods.' Tony groaned as he struggled back on his feet. 'Do you think we should get the Hulk through?'

'Don't.' Why does it seem to Steve that he is the only reasonable one? 'This is a highly populated area, Hulk wouldn't help.'

The man whirled around and sent the hammer flying back past a shocked Thor's face and into Iron man, and then sending him through at least 3 buildings.

Recovering, the Thunderer started engaging in close combat, pelting punches and swings down on the smaller one, who easily dodged them all with graceful sidesteps, cart wheels and flips, like a dance. Captain America watched from where he was, wanting to help but not sure how.

'Where are you from?' Thor roared as he continued to try and at least _make contact_ with his foe. 'How dare you harm my brother!'

The other caught one of his punches and flipped him onto his back. Several agents gasped.

'I am not the one that killed him.' His voice was raspy, as if unused for many years.

Thor rolled onto his back and aimed a kick at the other's shin, who quickly stepped out of the way.

'You are lying!' Thor shouted as he got up to his feet.

'The Other is killing the Jotuns as we speak.' He coughed. 'He is the one who killed the Prince.'

Thor frowned.

'What is this you speak off?'

'Its genocide I speak off, Thunderer.' The other man lowered his hand onto his stomach. 'Not I who killed the Prince not I-' He doubled over, blood streaked down his chin.

The Captain, figuring something was wrong, raced towards him.

'Lie down. Not move.' Steve dropped his shield by his side and lowered the man gently onto his back. He didn't like the way his skin turned pale or how his chest heaved like he couldn't breathe.

'Someone get the Medics!' He shouted at the agents, who quickly reached for their phones all at once.

'Stay awake.' Steve told the man. Now being closer, he looked more like a teenager than an adult.

OOO

Everything was blurry. His stomach hurts. The man kept on yelling in coherent words at him.

Will he be joining him?

Joining Prince in Hel?


	2. Interrogration

OOO

He was sitting cross-legged on the floor was a long time since they 'patched him up' and locked him here in what seemed to be a metal room. His clothes were changed into a simple white shirt and trousers.

If they expect it to hold him, they were day-dreaming, but he need to compose himself, and clear his thoughts.

He hated this sickening feeling brewing in his chest, begging to be released.

But he couldn't.

He knew someone would be watching.

OOO

'Gahhhh!' Tony groaned as he gave up staring at the screen. The dude was just sitting in the middle of the room, staring into empty space for the last three hours.

'This person is driving me crazy!' He yelled and waved his hands around.

'You can't really expect him to plan his escape yet after an internal bleeding.' Bruce muttered.

Thor twirled his hammer around in his hand, deep in thought. He was still barely keeping down his rage after smashing up all of the training rooms in the basement out of grief and anger, seeing his dead brother sent of to Shield for examination.

'Have any idea who the hell he is, Goldilocks?' Tony scoffed.

'He isn't from any realm in particular.' Thor took in deep breaths, as if trying to stop himself from taking this room down as well. 'Yet his magic would parallel Loki's easily, and I don't like how he is worthy for Mjolnir.'

'Maybe he's like Vision?' Steve asked. 'Maybe he's also created by some mad scientist-'

'I am not mad Steve!' Tony yelled.

'Maybe we should ask Wanda?' Clint suggested. 'She could get something out of his mind. That will make everything easier.'

'He did actually speak English.' Natasha retorted. 'We should start with interrogation first.'

'Fine. Natasha, you take the role.' Steve said.

Natasha nodded and left the room.

Tony was distracted by the sudden movement from the surveillance screen.

'Guys?' He asked, confused with what he was seeing. 'What is he-'

The kid's eyes flashed to a shade of artificial blue. His hands closed on his neck.

'Guys! He is chocking himself!' Tony shouted, waving his arms around in cartwheels frantically.

Steve, Clint and Thor immediately ran out of the room.

Bruce came and joined Tony by the table, both horrified at the sight of the person struggling as if he was trying to strangle himself, but trying to stop at the same time.

Clint, Steve and Thor rushed into the room a second later and pin the young man down on the floor. The blue glow in his eyes died away as he gradually stopped fighting.

'Clint, what do you get?' Tony asked into the intercom. He was to lazy to take it of.

The Clint on the screen raised one hand up to his ear.

'I don't know Tony. But this resembles a lot from the scepter Loki used.'

'The glowstick of doom?'

'Well, yeah. But I don't understand, it's like it's temporary.'

'Energy spiked.' Bruce was already at the other screens indicating their prisoner's conditions. 'The energy did match Loki's scepter.'

'So this person was under Loki's control?' Tony frowned.

'Shouldn't it go away once Loki lost it?' Bruce questioned.

'Tony,' Clint called from the other end. 'He said he didn't remember anything that happened just then.'

A few agents came in the view of the camera. They asked the others to leave, which they complied.

'Nat?' Tony said. 'I guess your interrogation will need to wait.'

'Copy that.'

Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose.

'Tony, is it just me or do you also think there is something else wrong with him?'

OOO

He woke up in a totally new room, but it's only his conscious, not his body.

He could make out two other essences in the room.

Frowning, he called out to them, demanding what they are doing in his mind.

The green one winced, while the other blue one remained silent in one corner.

"Loki?"

The green one looked up at him, forcing a smile.

"Why are you inside me?"

He shook his head apologetically.

"I apologies for the time being, and-"

He tilted his chin towards the blue one.

"-bringing this thing in."

"Thing?"

"That's what haunts me when I am alone." Loki answered.

The blue one narrowed his eyes on him, as if planning his next attack.

"Is it possible to get him out?"

"If you expel me, then he will follow because only we are connected."

"Won't you die then?"

"Not if I have my body back."

He nodded.

"Your wish is my command, Prince."

"Don't you start calling me that."

"I always did."

OOO

When the room faded into reality, he found himself in a quite different place. The room he laid in wasn't the metal box anymore, with a wide window and white walls. A woman with red curly hair sat at a table.

"Morning." She greeted him.

He bowed his head back in acknowledgement.

"I am Natasha Romanoff, but you can call me Natasha if you like. What is your name?"

Stiffening, he could sense the mischief hiding behind the cherry mask. She wants something from him.

Information. Spy. Red.

"Do you have one?" Natasha frowned.

"Elixir."

She kept on frowning.

"No last name?"

"No."

Natasha nodded.

"Lets play a game. We do rock-paper-scissors, the winner of each round gets to ask a question, and the other can choose to answer."

Elixir tilted his head in curiosity.

Got his attention now. Natasha thought to herself.

"Right, come over and sit. Then I will explain how to actually play rock-paper-scissors."

OOO

"Can I just watch?"

"No."

"But there isn't anything else to do in this damn place!"

"Watch your-"

"Don't you get started on this again Capsicle!"

"Right, everyone out. No exceptions." The agent shoved them out of the room and slammed the door shut.

"Damn it." Tony scoffed. "Now what?"

"At least we got that there are some traces of the Teseract on him." Bruce muttered, still confused with the "how it got there in the first place".

"Lets see what Legolas is doing." Tony grinned and rested his arm over Bruce and another over Steve. "At least something to play with before Nat comes out with answers."

OOO

"You are really bad at this." Natasha commented after she won him for the 5th time in a row. "Now my question, how do you think about Loki?"

Elixir lowered his head at the mention of the dead Prince.

"He was banished to the place of the Jotun because no one likes him after he tried to destroy Midgard, right? But he didn't do it." His voice was still harsh despite the 2 bottles of water.

"What makes you think of that?"

"One day I stumbled into his chambers while he's changing, and I asked him about the long gashes on his back. He didn't want to answer, but something bad happened and forced him to take over Midgard."

"You think its that?"

"Yes. Prince was never evil."

"Another round."

Natasha won again. She's starting to suspect if he wanted to lose.

"What is your relationship with Loki?"

"He freed me. He broke the collar and we do many things together after that."

"Collar?"

"I don't belong to any of the worlds. I am a free wanderer. When I accidentally set foot on Laufey's realm, he set a trap and put a collar on me that made me shape-shift into an ice tiger for as long the collar stays on. Later I heard he did have the tendency to make prisoners into, entertainment."

"Why would he turn you into, that?"

"Why should I tell you?"

"Because I am the one interrogating." Natasha gave up her stupid fake cherry posture, her face now impassive as stone. "Now, answer me."

"Ice tiger, Midgard doesn't have those?"

"No."

"I see. Well, it's a monster that breathes ice."

"What abilities do you have?"

"Isn't that what this place cares about? There's a mind stone a few levels below, and another live infinity stone passing through walls-"

"Answer me."

"I can shape-shift," It wasn't the first time Elixir was forced to rattle off his list. "I was taught tactics for fighting, but I like using daggers the best. The Prince recently taught me magic. I read minds. I am immortal."

"What makes you able to use Thor's hammer yesterday?"

"I- What?" Elixir was startled. "I did?"

Natasha stood up.

"Thank you for your cooperation." She turned to leave, only to turn back around and take a colourful thing out of her pocket. "Oh, and here is a Rubik's cube to entertain you."

"What do I do with it?"

"Change it around until the colours are the same on each side." Then Natasha closed the door.

Well, that was exhausting. She thought.

OOO

"Wait, he can do all of that? Is he joking?"

"I wouldn't think he did."

"But Nat! If this jerk is friends with Loki, probably-"

"No Clint, I don't think he is planning to destroy the world either. Bruce, did you hear anything about Loki's body?"

"There are scars and half-heal fractures all over his body." Bruce took off his glasses and wiped them with his shirt. "Far too much to have come from all of us added together. They were older that that anyway."

"So he got them before he came to earth?"

"That's what it seems."

"I wish to bring him back to Asgard for a proper funeral."

"Sorry big guy, not ours to decide. Apparently Shield is so paranoid they think Loki's body is a bomb or something."

Thor turned and walked out of the room. Steve was going to follow but Bruce stopped him.

"Just give him some time and space. Seeing a relative of yours dead would be quite a shock to anyone."

Steve nodded.

"Hey Brucy, lets go and figure that energy thingy out." And before he could protest, Tony dragged Bruce after him out of the room.

"I need some air." Steve turned to Natasha. "Mind if you accompany me, ma'am?"

"Sure, Clint-" Natasha stopped herself. "Where did Clint go?"

OOO

He still didn't trust this guy. Even though Nat said he wouldn't, Clint couldn't just wait it out.

He ushered the guards to give him privacy. They complied and stepped aside. Clint opened the door and closed it behind him.

On one of the chairs in the room sat the teenager from yesterday, focused on the half-finished Rubik's cube in his hand.

"Oh, morning." He jerked his head and said brightly. "Is that a bow on your back?"

Clint frowned, obviously taken aback by the optimism in his voice.

"Oh, I don't want to take over the world." He said as he did a few more turns on the cube. "And no, Prince didn't intend to do that either."

"What makes you so sure?" Clint asked darkly.

"Mind-reading doesn't lie."

"What if you are put under the influence of him?"

"First, I will know. Second, he has other more important uses of his magic. Third, he doesn't need to, I listen to him anyway."

"There are people out there happy to know he is dead." Clint tossed out. "He killed a lot of people."

"And he could have killed more if he really wanted to." The boy suddenly stood up, anger flashing in his eyes. "Don't you see, he didn't want to do it."

"He still had to pay."

"Then what about you?"

Clint's eyes widened. The healed wound over his heart opened up, bleeding guilt.

Elixir realized his mistake a bit too late.

An arrow zipped across the room and impaled itself on the wall. A thin line of red appeared on the boy's cheek.

Clint opened his mouth to apologize but was cut off by the sound of running footsteps coming closer. Alarm bells sounded in his head as he turned and rushed out of the room up into the nearest air duct, where he stayed for the rest of the day.

The boy stood, shocked as agents came in and cuffed him to the chair before sticking a band aid on his face.

The arrow remained forgotten on the wall.


	3. Hope and Confusion

"I don't think he will want to cooperate anymore after that." Steve broke the silence. It's been an hour since they heard the news of Clint attempting to shoot Elixir, and no one found him yet.

"Thor, what exactly happened after you got Loki back to your place?" Bruce asked. Everybody looked up at the Thunderer.

'There was many battles which involved Loki, then supposedly Loki died, but then afterwards he revealed to me and mother that he was alive and well. He said he went to the land of the Jotuns.

"Won't the ice giants hate him?"

"No. In Loki's messages, he said his other brother was King after Loki killed Laufey. They didn't blame him for his death. Or rather, they were quite happy they got rid of him. He was definitely welcomed, but he didn't mention this Elixir."

"Thor, how about you go back to see if there's any news about the ice giants?" Steve suggested. "But, try not to, you know…"

 _Mention Loki is dead._

Thor nodded and left the room.

'Big guy will definitely be alright.' Tony said cheerily and took another swig of whiskey.

'That's what you think.'

'So you feel bad for Reindeer Games?'

'I think there is a huge part missing.' Bruce said, mostly to himself. 'It's like we were not looking at the big picture.'

'Like Loki might be tortured to take over earth?'

Bruce shrugged.

'Something like that.'

'You know what, I will go and ask him some questions.'

'Tony,' Steve warned. 'That's too much questions for one day.'

'Meh, I will be fine.' Tony left his glass on the table and strolled over to the door. 'I am a genius, remember?'

OOO

Elixir looked up from his position behind the chair. Is the mad arrow-shooting maniac back?

But no, it's a different man that closed the door and he hummed a song.

'How's your face?' He asked as he plopped himself in the other chair.

'Fine.'

'Get out from there. You looked like you are going to pounce on me or something.' The other man put his shoes up on the table and laid back.

Elixir scrambled up to his feet and sat down.

'First, you can called me Awesome Man, or Genius, or Iron Man or-'

Cave, weaponry, tower, suits.

'Tony Stark?'

Tony was for a split second dumbstruck, but then recovered as quickly.

'Well, yeah.'

'Prince told me a lot about you.'

Tony knitted his eyebrows together.

'Reindeer did?'

'He said something about having to defenestrate you, because he doesn't want to kill you.'

'Defenes-what?'

'Throwing you out of a window.'

'Throwing me out of the window is trying to kill me.'

'But you didn't, which is exactly what the Prince expected.'

'Well what if I didn't? You know, JARVIS went dumb for one second or something, what if I am dead?'

'Then it will still feel better than personally killing you in the other possible ways.'

'Like?'

'Well, he named a whole list, I remember stabbing your vitals, strangle you, break your neck, snap your spine, shoot you with the sceptre, kill the light in your chest-'

'He actually said that?'

'Well, yes.'

'What did he think about the light?'

'He said it is definitely important to you, as in life-threatening important.' Elixir looked at Tony with curiosity. 'Why?'

'It's stops shrapnel from going into my heart.' Tony blurted out before he could stop himself. Well, mind reading will tell Elixir the answer anyway if he doesn't.

'Do I have to stay here for a long time?' Elixir asked. A long time could mean forever for an immortal.

'Well, once Fury thinks you are clear, then you might be allowed outside.'

'Fury?'

'The director of this place.'

'And what about Prince's body?'

'Why do you ask?'

Elixir hesitated. Should he tell this mortal straight away, or should he wait, or should he never?

'Just tell me what you can.'

'Well, they put him in a freezer to preserve it.' Tony shuddered at the thought. 'If you ask me they will probably do tests on him that they shouldn't be.'

'Will it still work functionally?'

'Will it what?'

'Nevermind.' Elixir adverted his eyes. Knowing the body will be safe was definitely a priority, but if it was damaged in other ways…

'Loki is still alive, right?'

Elixir jerked up his head.

'Why do you ask?'

'Why else would you ask about the body? And anyway, Goldilocks told us about how he should have been dead, but didn't for like what, twice?'

'If I tell you Loki is in me, will they try and kill me?'

'Loki is what?'

'He is alive, inside of me. If I can get Loki's body back, I can return his conscious back.'

The older man's eyes widened.

'Are you, trying to make a joke or something?'

'No?'

Tony took out something from his phone.

'JARVIS?' He said to the metal thing. 'Are the cameras still down?'

'Yes sir.' The metal thing replied.

'Good.' He then pocketed it.

'Will they try and kill me?'

'I definitely wouldn't allow it.'

'Will they try and kill Loki once he is back?'

Tony didn't answer.

'Will you?'

'No.'

Tony then stood up and left.

Elixir sighed. He brought his knees up and wrapped his arms around them.

He really hopes everything goes well.

OOO

Tony wasn't sure what he did just then, but it felt like the right thing.

He considered the pros and cons of telling the others.

He would definitely not tell Fury, hell knows what he might decide with his stupid council.

He didn't think telling Thor will be alright, giving Big Guy too much false hope will crumble him.

Telling Natasha, Capsicle, Green Dude, Birdy Man and Scarlet might be ok.

Telling Vision is definitely ok (he created him, for god's sake!).

And finally, definitely not Legolas. That man needs to go to therapy.

Or maybe he should just not tell anyone.

Or maybe he should tell everyone.

No, ask Bruce about it.

Yeah, ask Brucy.

Tony headed over to the elevator.

OOO

Clint's eyes followed Tony as he passed under one of the panels. His luminous watch told him he was up here for about three hours, and he didn't intend to go down just yet.

Clint curled himself up in the tight space. His bow and quiver sat beside him.

He still didn't know what had gotten into him when he notched the arrow and let it fly. Even though Elixir side stepped the arrow and only got a scratch, it could've killed him.

For a second then, he saw a green colour flashed across the other's eyes. Then hatred boiled in his chest and before he can stop himself, he was aiming.

Loki's eye colour is blue, idiot. Not green.

Right?

Yes, he was paranoid, that's all. Clint shook his head, trying to clear it. He must have mistaken the green for blue, and then his sub-conscious decided to take over and handle the situation.

 _Badly._

Yet, even as he slipped down the hole and replaced the panel, even as he slipped into the elevator and pressed '1', something didn't feel right. His guts were screaming:

 _Loki is still alive!_


	4. Invasion

Elixir was bored.

And being a follower of Loki, being bored means thinking of ways to get rid of boredom.

Or in this case, leave this horrible room he was stuck for at least a week.

Sure, the food was tolerable. The one called Natasha and Tony still visit him. But boredom is boredom.

The escape plan took ages to plan, but at least it took up time.

First, he can just leave a illusion to trick the so-called 'cameras', but then getting his way around the building before going out the front door is going to tricky without anyone noticing. And not to mention coming back. He wouldn't want anyone to figure out his visit to the outside world.

He only would have one chance, and he wouldn't want to waste it.

He couldn't use invisibility because he just started, and a lot of factors contribute to it. Far too risky.

He couldn't use disguise. The only people he saw that might be able to go in and out were the agents that brought his meals, Natasha and Tony, oh, and the one that tried to shoot him. But he didn't know enough of them to pretend to be them yet. And if they somehow met, he would have to dash for it.

He didn't even try the windows, knowing the glass would be extra-extra-extra protected. Even if he did succeed in breaking them, someone down below would notice.

Teleportation? No, last time he ended up in a door, literally.

So, make yourself less noticeable as possible. As in 'don't look at me I am air' kind of being ignored was his best bet.

If everything goes to plan, his day will be more exciting than ever.

If it doesn't, well, he will go back to the metal box.

OOO

Steve Rogers happened to bump into Clint in the supermarket. But before he can say anything, Clint asked him if he had his phone on him.

He happened to have remembered to bring it today.

Clint went on to phone Natasha. He poured out every single thing about the shooting.

He said he would come back in the afternoon.

Steve agreed with Clint on the hallucinating part, but suggested that maybe next time when he sees Elixir, he doesn't carry his bow in as well.

'I would rather not meet him again.' Clint muttered.

'Shouldn't you apologize?'

Clint promptly turned on his feet and left.

Steve sighed and grabbed another box of cereal from the shelf.

OOO

Pepper rarely gets curious about anything. But when she does, nothing can be in her way.

She had heard about Tony visiting this being from another for ages, and she wondered what about the being could've got Tony's attention for so long.

She asked to pay the magical being a visit, and when the guards refused to comply, she simply said 'Director Fury's orders' and the guards scampered off.

'The authority Fury had in his hands.

Pepper cautiously opened the door. She found a boy sleeping soundly next to the table.

She expected him to be older.

'Hello?'

The boy continued to sleep.

Pepper stepped inside and closed the door behind her. She didn't look where she stepped and slipped on one of the Rubik's cube pieces. She landed sprawled across the floor.

One of her heels flew through the air and went through the illusion of the boy.

Then Pepper had one of her rare moments of confusion and shock.

The next second she was running out of the room screaming something about ghosts.

OOO

Elixir felt a clench in his chest. His illusion was figured out. He now had little time left to run.

But this place is as confusing as the palace. Sometimes the metal box will move up, or otherwise it will move down. The maps on the walls made no sense whatsoever to him.

Panicking, he thought of running back to his holding room when out of the blue a man came crashing into him around a corner.

'Excuse me, I shouldn't be-' He started, only to stop in mid-sentence when he realized who he was.

Elixir started backing off, knowing his magic wouldn't keep him from the man now they came in physical contact. He recognized him from before. The man was the one that shot at him.

Well, the one without a bow.

But the man only let his lips curled up into a smile.

'Good morning, young man.'

'Good- morning.' Elixir sputtered back.

'Are you lost?'

'Well.' Elixir pointed at the map on the wall. 'Do you know where the exit is?'

'You need to go down to the main floor first.'

'Where am I now?'

'Level 35.'

'Oh, right.'

'I may escort you downstairs.'

'No, no need.'

'You can use the elevators?'

'You mean the boxes that move up and down? Um, not quite.'

'Then allow e to at least teach you how.'

The man led Elixir down the corridors to the metal boxes. He then pressed one of the many buttons. The doors closed on their own and the box started to move down.

'You see, the numbers on the buttons, then mean the floors. The main floor is '1', and if you want to go to the cafeteria, you go to '5', the levels below the ground have a 'B' on them.'

Elixir nodded.

'I see.'

'What's your name?'

'Um, Elixir.'

'No last name?'

'No.'

'You don't have a family then?'

'Well, not really connections. Because, you see, I am created from a potion accident.'

'Oh, I understand.'

'Really? Not many do.'

The man nodded and tucked his hands behind his back.

The box stopped and the doors opened. A few people filed in, not taking a glace at Elixir because of the 'ignore me' aurora. He had the strange urge to bolt out of the box, but the man laid a comforting hand on his shoulders and held him back.

The doors closed. The box continued its way down.

The box was unusually silent. People only whispered to each other. The rest had their nose in the thing Tony called a 'phone'.

The box suddenly jolted. People toppled over. The box came to a screeching halt and the lights went out.

Elixir felt trapped. The screens from the 'phones' illuminated some of the faces.

'What's going on?' someone asked.

'Did we just broke down?' another scoffed.

An alarm sounded in the distance. Gunfire could be heard.

'I think the whole building shut down and we are under attack.'

'Why would someone want to attack Shield?'

An explosion somewhere nearer sent vibrations through the elevator.

'Everyone calm down. Someone try the call button.' The man's voice called out.

'It's not working!'

'Try the phones.'

Everyone took them out and started typing furiously, and then a moment later brought them to their ears.

'No signal.'

'Then everyone just wait it out, it shouldn't take long for someone to-'

Another explosion rocked through the elevator, making it screech down ever so slightly.

Everyone froze. Nothing fancied the idea of crashing down to the bottom.

(Author's note: Unless you are a Shield agent, please do not attempt the following.)

'Right, don't wait it out. Someone go up and lift the hatch and climb out to see where we are.'

'But-'

'Either we stay here and fall, or we have a chance to escape.'

The elevator screeched another few centimeters down.

People shuffled around and a man disappeared through a hole.

'We are stuck between 9 and 8!' he shouted back.

'How far up?'

'Not very.'

'Good, another one go up and try open the door. Careful what is outside.'

The two grunted and huffed as they tugged on the doors. They slid open.

'The corridor is clear.'

'Right, everyone else, leave you possessions behind, but bring whatever you need to arm yourself. Elixir, you go first.'

OOO

Clint stuck an arrow in a Chitari soldier, whirled around and knocked another off his feet before stabbing him in the back of his head.

He arrived at the Shield facility thinking about how to explain to Nat when he sees her, only to find the building bombarded by ugly aliens on flying scooters.

Ah well, save the explanations for later then.

He rushed into the building after some of the aliens. Many of the agents dealt with the situation like interstellar armies attack them every single day. Some of them were armed with proper guns and tasers, while others had to improvise. Chairs, phone books, table legs, phone cords, scissors, clipboards, pens, and (sacrificed) electronics became deadly.

Ok, so the agents will deal with them fine. Clint thought as he elbowed another in the stomach and sent him sliding around the floor with a kick.

'Nat?' He shouted over the intercom.

'Clint!'

'Are you ok?'

'Yes, I am fine.' There was a pause on the other side, and then- 'Though some of the agents might be stuck in the elevators, and the explosions definitely wouldn't help them hold.'

'There's nothing we can do for them now.'

'Then get up here. Stark went off, but I told Bruce to stay in the lab. You might need to check on him while I-' She was cut off once more. '-spar with a few here.'

'Copy that.' And Clint headed for the stairs.

OOO

Stark wasn't intimidated by the attack at all as he took down the flying scooters with his awesome-powerful-Stark-lasers. He took the whole thing as target practice, except the targets will fire back.

He shot upwards, leading the scooters further away from the streets and unwary pedestrians. Without Thor, these things will have to be taken down one by one.

And he wasn't sure what exactly is happening inside the building either. He hoped the Chitari wouldn't make things more complicated by releasing the mass of deadly villains kept in Shields holding cells.

Maybe he should suggest to Fury an alternative instead of keeping villains, magic energy sticks, and other wipe-out-a-whole-civilization-with-a-press-of-a-button thingys all in one single damn place.

At least the portal was temporary. Tony thought. Not like last time.

The scooters tailed him like a swarm of angry bees as he tried to take sharp turns and through tight spaces, which eliminated most of the unfortunate ones, but still left him half a dozen to blast.

'JARVIS, where's Pepper?'

'The agents got Miss Potts to safety, sir.'

'Good.' He turned around and blasted another in the face. 'Is there anyone needing to save in the facility?'

'Many people were trapped on elevators. Agent Coulson managed to lead his group out.'

'Good.'

'Sir, Mr Elixir is not in his holding room anymore.'

'What?'

'He seemed to had just escaped before the invasion occurred.'

'Why didn't you tell me earlier!?' And do these people watching the video cameras have brains made of crap?

'Sorry sir, you seemed busy.'

'Fine, I forgive you this once. Where is he now?'

'With Agent Coulson.'

Ok, no need to add another on his worry list then.

'JARVIS, how many are there left.'

'Only two are still after you. The rest went into the building. It seems like they are looking for something.'

'What are they looking for? Glowstick of doom? Tesseract? My incredible inventions?'

'They paid no attention to them.'

'Oh.' Tony took out one of the scooters, sending it crashing into the other and both of them plummeting into the streets below.

'Right, job finished here. Anything else for me?'

'Sir, Agent Coulson and his group were cornered by a squadron.'

'Is there anyone else who could help?' Flying laser suits don't work well in corridors.

'Agent Barton is on his way.' In all the chaos, Tony still remembered that Clint and Elixir should be separated. But, with other more hostile targets at hand, maybe Elixir wouldn't get impaled on some wall with a dozen of arrows.

Yeah, he wouldn't.

Tony proceeded to take out the enemies' parked scooters along the shattered windows, as well as spectating the fleeing Chitari from the front door as they were overwhelmed by the might of Shield agents.

Agent Hill tackled the last one down and strangled it with the wire of a mouse.

'Oh, and make a note for me JARVIS,' Tony added in a deadpan voice. 'Next time remind me to give Agent Hill only wireless mouse next time she asks to borrow one.'

'Of course sir.'


	5. Frenzy

Terror and silence threatened to drown him as he kneeled on the floor along with the other midgardians. The Chitari soldiers flashed their sharp teeth. Their guns lighting up the dark turn of the hall with an eerie blue glow.

If it were not because of the migardian clothing he was wearing, he would be executed on the spot. Chitari weren't that dumb to be unable to tell magic users from non-magic users, but the smell of migardian clothing must have covered it.

Elixir can only catch snippets of their chatter. Even when language never troubled him, it is hard to translate when your head was telling you to scream like a maniac and run.

'The Trickster is not here…' One of them hissed.

'Shall we finish these then?' One asked, excited at the thought of blood. The others screeched with delight.

'No!' The tallest of them all growled. 'Can't you idiots smell it? A faint wisp of magic?'

The others started sniffing the air.

'Yesss…' They chorused. 'Magic means Trickster. Master wants Trickster alive.'

'But which one?'

'We can shoot them all. The one surviving must be the Trickster.'

'No! If Trickster didn't survive, Master will have our heads!'

'If Trickster escape, Master will have our heads!'

'Enough!' The leader roared. 'We will find the Trickster in this group and take him out, then we can finish the midgardians.'

'Yes yes! Finished them!' They screeched, and started scanning through the group with their black, vacant eye sockets.

It wouldn't take long until they pin-point on him. Elixir thought as he lowered his head in an effort to hide his face, in case one of the Chitari recognizes him.

The leader's dead eyes glided over the others and rested on him. He took a step forward and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, pulling him closer to his grotesque face.

 _Sniff. Sniff._

'You are the Trickster.' Her sneered. 'I can smell magic from you.'

'How do you know if I am the Trickster and not someone else?' Elixir replied carefully, trying to keep his voice from shaking. Some of the other humans cast fearful and perplexed expression in our direction, as we continued to converse in Chitari language.

'Midgardians don't use magic. Thunderer is away. You must be the Trickster!'

'Well, I am not the Trickster. Clearly your Master didn't keep track of other magic users visiting Midgard.' Elixir shrugged. 'If you do take me to your Master, keep in mind he can decapitate you for bringing the wrong person.'

The leader's facials scrunched up into a knot. He was forced into a dangerous decision. He, of course, wasn't educated enough to tell someone's magic traces from another person's. Choose the wrong one way to go, he and his squadron will be nothing but dead corpses the next morning. His comrades caught on the uneasiness washing of their leader and shifted restlessly.

Elixir struggled to hide a smirk.

Then suddenly something whizzed through the air and exploded in a thick cloud of smoke. People suddenly started moving. Someone yanked Elixir up to his feet and out of the confused leader's grasp. The person continued to pull Elixir in one direction along with the others, away from the Chitari.

'Go! Go!' Someone urged them on from behind.

They dashed down one unlit corridor after another until Elixir lost count. Then they took off down the stairs, the men with their shoes clacking against the steps and the women bare foot, having already ditched the ridiculous tight heels.

Elixir was starting to fall behind. It's hard to make out the actual places where the steps were in the dark, and they were far smaller than the ones back in the palace.

He missed a step and fell forward from the momentum into empty space.

OOO

Clint saw that coming all along. The clumsy kid won't make it through without messing up.

He quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him back. Elixir jerked his head back and noticed him. Panic flashed across his face.

'I swear if you keep on tripping I will stick an arrow in your forehead!' Clint grumbled in exasperation.

Elixir yanked himself free and raced off, more from him than the bellowing Chitari somewhere behind.

Then he suddenly stopped and turned back.

'What the-' Clint was too surprised to react when Elixir charged back up the steps past him.

'You come back here this instant!' Clint shouted and ran back up the steps after him.

But he didn't stop. He got back to the floor they just past and darted down one side of the corridor.

'Stop!' Clint shouted again. He hesitated to follow. Obviously, he wouldn't need to risk himself getting hurt to go after this crazy idiot, but he felt like he had no choice but to follow as the Chitari noticed him and pointed their alien guns.

OOO

Elixir didn't suddenly lose his mind, but he didn't want the soldiers after innocent people. All they wanted was himself. He could finish them off easily if he allowed himself, but the wild frenzy that will possess him could harm the midgardians more.

It's better to lead the Chitari away from them.

He could hear the angry roar of the arrow man behind him. He wouldn't have time to explain, and he definitely didn't want him included, so he ran into a dark room and closed the door after him.

He tried to soothe his panting as the arrow man ran pass the door cursing and yelling empty threats.

When the arrow man's noise faded away, he let out a sigh of relief.

Then he allowed his instinct to kick in.

White flames licked through his body, warming up his very soul. Light danced across the walls and ceiling. He started to grow larger, stronger, faster and more agile. The cold blood that started pumping through his heart brought immediate comfort. An agitated tail swished over the floor. The very freezing cold radiating from his body made frost ripple out from beneath his paws. He let out a deep breath and a cloud of mist puffed out.

Then the lust for blood and flesh brainwashed him. The sound of approaching people came from outside.

He sniggered, only to find a terrifying snarl vibrating out from deep inside his throat.

 _The hunt begins._

OOO

Clint leaned against the wall next to the stairwell and took in deep breaths. He was sure he scanned every corridor on the floor, but he didn't even see a shadow.

Maybe he came back to his senses and went back down the stairs? He peered down them, only to find them very empty.

Just as he was about to go down to check, when a blood-curling scream pierced the air. He jerked back to find a Chitari soldier rushing towards him. Another second and an arrow was protruding from his head, sending him crumbling to the ground, dead.

Clint moved forward cautiously, arrow notched and eyes scanning frantically for any other signs of movement, but there was none.

He looked down at the corpse, finding the alien's gun missing.

He was running away from something. He concluded. Something terrifying enough to scare aliens.

He moved away from the dead body and down one of the corridors. The air was thick with silence, making every scrap and swish he made a hundred times louder. Clint shuddered as the temperature dropped a few degrees.

He peered around the corridor and found a scene perfectly laid out from a horror movies, except this one was real and very alive in his sight.

The corridor was coated in a glaze of frost and red, with bits and pieces of metal armor embedded in solid ice. The stench of blood and metal rushed up Clint's nose. A white tiger the size of a truck had his back towards him, munching on a frozen piece of something Clint didn't want to relate to. His fur flourished in white and silver, complete with messy streaks of black along its entire length. The monster's claws were like a set of perfect daggers. Its eyes were blood red and empty of any emotion.

Clint had no idea how this creature suddenly appeared. Even though it very conveniently got rid of the rest of his troubles for him, he could be his next snack. It was definitely not an ally of the Chitari, but how come Shield got his hands on _this_?

The creature seemed to sense his presence and perked his ears up. It turned to face Clint, and swallowed the last of his lunch.

And it's still interested in desert.

'Damn it.' Clint muttered.

The creature bared its pearl white canine teeth.

Then it lunged forward.

OOO

'Clint? Clint?' Natasha tapped on her intercom, wondering if it's broken.

'Clint Barton! You answer me this second!' Her shriek startled a few of the agents nearby, making them jump.

'Nat!' Clint cried out. 'I am busy this second.'

'Are you taking on a squadron on your own?' Natasha knew Clint well enough to know his stupid ideas.

'No-' He sounded like he was only trying to talk between each ragged breath. 'It's- a lot- worse-'

'Clint, are you sure you are fine?' Natasha started to worry. How much trouble is he actually in?

'Nat! Clear the Reception area!'

'Well,' Nat peered around. The Reception area was crowded with injured people and nurses. 'I am afraid it's going to take time.'

'But you will have to! I got a-' Then he went silent.

'Clint! Clint!'

'What's wrong?' Steve walked over and asked.

'I don't know, it sounds like Clint got something-'

A crash sounded from the stairwell. Everyone in the Reception looked in the direction of the noise with confused expressions.

'-dangerous behind him.'

A bellow of smoke poured down the stairwell. Clint sprinted out from the cloud, looking unharmed but screaming like a girl, when behind him something large and white howled as it smashed the stairs to smithereens in pursuit of its prey.

Then everyone was screaming. People gathered at the front doors in an attempt to escape. The few that could not crawled over to the nearest surviving furniture and hid.

Natasha, Tony and Steve stood frozen to their spots as Clint ran towards them, leading the monster in their direction.

'I should have kept the suit on.' Natasha heard Tony groan as the pair of red eyes laid fixed on them, unmoving.

Steve raised his shield, but it looked pathetic against the size of their predator, more like a Frisbee than anything else.

Clint hid behind Steve, completely unnerved by the monster.

The tiger continued to stare at them intently with vacant eyes, showing no intention to pounce.

Yet.

'Any plans?' Tony mouthed. He stood un-Stark-ly still in the freezing presence of the creature.

'You are usually the one with plans.' Steve mouthed back.

'Well, when I have my suit for back up.' He retorted.

'Shh.' Natasha raised one finger to my lips.

The boys immediately zipped their mouths up.

She took in a shaky breath, and took one step forward. The red feline eyes dilated, as if seeing not only her, but also her past, her bloody, horrifying past…

'The sun is getting real low…' She whispered, just loud enough for the beast to hear.

She expected Clint and Tony to now inappropriately burst out laughing, but fortunately they still have their brains on them.

Or maybe it's because they lost them that they couldn't laugh. But either way, this was better than the alternative.

The creature's fur seemed to rise on its end as Natasha continued to approach him, ever so slowly. Perhaps even more cautious than she did with the Other Guy.

She then held out her hand in front of her.

The worst that can happen now would be losing her hand.

Natasha held her breath as the creature started to draw near. Its fur glistened like fresh snow in the crisp mornings. The brushing of its paws over the floor was like the soft sound of falling flakes in winter nights. The bright red in his eyes seemed to fade and turn dark and brown.

Before she realized it, the tiger had already touched its nose to her palm and she stared into the emptiness of those feline eyes. The cold numbed her fingers.

Then, gradually, she turned her hand around and drew a line on the icy pale skin, sending a shiver through her.

The tiger closed its eyes and let out a long purr. It pulled away and backed off, one meter, two meters, three meters, until he was out of arm's reach. Then fire engulfed it.

Natasha fought the urge the scream as the flames swallowed the creature whole. Then the mass began to shrink, smaller and thinner, until the fire died away to reveal a humanoid shape gasping on the floor.

OOO

Elixir's breath slowed. His chest stopped heaving. He closed his eyes.

Now that the horror and fear, the lust and fierceness gone, sleep welcomed him into her arms.


	6. A Deathly Visit

Thor felt solid floor beneath his feet once more. Heimdall greeted him with the usual curt nod and pulled his sword out.

'How are mother and father?'

'Well.'

'How is Jutonheim?'

Heimdall didn't look surprised at the funny subject. He looked more like he was expecting this.

'Shielded from my sight. The King had already sent scouts to see what is happening.'

Thor nodded.

'Have you told father of, Loki?' He knew well that Heimdall knows of this from the start. Loki couldn't hold a veil for long periods.

'No.'

'Do you plan to?'

'Its best not yet.' The Gate Keeper's eyes then glazed over with a curious expression. 'I have on my hand a very important letter for you.'

Thor perked up at the words 'letter'. Heimdall calmly pulled out from a pocket a chalky white scroll tied with an elegant strip of black silk.

He took the scroll in his hand.

'Who is this from?'

Heimdall shrugged.

Thor cautiously pulled on the delicate lace. The scroll unraveled and on it, in great flourishes and curves:

'Sorry uncle, but please allow me to have the pleasure of your presence in my humble palace at, hmm, I don't know, what do you think? Wait, you are writing all of this down? Damn! Ok, the moment you finish reading this.'

The parchment exploded into a cloud of black smoke. Thor gasped and tried to wave the smoke away, and then it cleared.

He stood in a path leading towards a majestic dark castle. The air was damp and musty. Water dripped here and there from the cave ceiling somewhere in the darkness above.

A black dog with three heads trotted up to him. The middle head tugged on red cape.

Thor followed the beast up to the magnificent kingdom of Lady Hela.

OOO

Heimdall let loose a rare playful smile on his lips as he picked up the forgotten ribbon from the gold floor.

Oh, the things Lady Hela request for.

OOO

Elixir squinted through the mist and fire. He definitely didn't recognize where he was. Tables were overturned and people were cowering and crying.

A boy lay sprawled on the floor in front of him. His open eyes clear of any life. A trickle of blood leaked out from his mouth as the carpet beneath him turned black.

Elixir reached forward to touch him, but a woman screamed and rushed forwards, cradling the boy's head in her arms in an effort to protect him.

People immediately grew protective of the mother and rushed forward, swinging things. One of them tossed something at him. It narrowly missed and shattered on the wall behind.

A man lunged at him with something sharp. Elixir closed his eyes and swung a punch. When he reopened them, the man was at the opposite side of the room, leaving a trail of blood as he slid silently onto the floor.

The people backed up, eyes frozen with fear. Then one of them raised a shaky arm and pointed, then said, in a dead whisper:

'Monster.'

OOO

Panicking, Steve ran down the empty halls.

Tony said something on the phone along the lines of JARVIS sensing Elixir is now awake.

 _Screaming._

Steve realized he took a wrong turn and quickly doubled up. He never visited to the metal room before. Usually he only needs to ask someone. But now in the dead of night, helpful people are hard to find.

He finally arrived at the correct door and tapped in the master code.

 _Error._

Now what?

He tapped it in again, only to receive the same result.

His phone vibrated in his pajama pocket. He took it out and find Tony texting him.

 _1849._

He tapped in the code.

 _Have a nice day (or night). : D_

He frowned at the greeting that flashed on the screen.

Tony hacked more than just information.

He carefully pushed open the thick metal vault door. He peeked inside.

Elixir was where he was when the agents thrown him in. He had the blanket over his head, shivering.

'Are you alright?' Steve asked.

The form froze, as if just noticing someone was also in the room.

'Are you alright?' He repeated again.

'Alive.' A muffled voice answered him.

'Alive doesn't cut it.'

'You don't have to be here.'

'I don't have to leave either.'

The blanket was thrown off to reveal the kid, attempting to put on his best withering look.

'I am fine. You do not have to come in at midnight to check on me.'

'Were you having nightmares?'

'No.'

'Bad dreams? Flashback?'

'No.'

'Then what are you screaming about?'

'Something I don't remember. Please, just leave me be.'

'Tony's orders.'

'Tell Tony to stop.'

'Natasha said that.'

'Tell Natasha to stay away as well.'

'Elixir, no one minds whether you can turn into, something else. We did have experience with someone much worse.'

'Oh, as if.'

'A green raging giant?'

Elixir's eyes flashed in the dark.

'Nothing compared to it.'

'Then what?'

'Dragon.'

Steve frowned. How bad can that be?

'Very bad.' Elixir answered. 'I almost destroyed the city before I could recompose myself and force me to go elsewhere.'

'So you loose control when you shape-shift into other things?'

'More like inheriting their natural thoughts and instincts. Dragons are made to burn, serpents are made to overturn boats, hunters are made to hunt.'

Steve gulped.

'I want to go back to sleep now. Can you leave?' It came out more like a command than a request, but Steve silently walked out and closed the door behind him. Knots and bolts whirled and clicked together.

OOO

'Why did you request my presence, Lady Hela?' Thor asked, but Hela seemed to pay no attention to him as she poured tea out of a china teapot. The air smelled fresh and sweet in contrast to the ghastly, cold hall.

'Uncle, don't use that Asgardian accent of yours. It's just so out of date. I just seemed to be wondering if you heard from my father recently.' She replied gracefully and pushed the tea cup across the polished marble table. But Thor had no intention to drink it.

'What do you mean you haven't heard from my brother? Isn't he here?'

Hela looked up with a quizzical expression.

'No?'

They spent a few more moments staring at each other, then the truth dawned on both of them.

'So, he isn't truly dead?' Thor asked hopefully.

'Don't get you hopes up, uncle. It could be worse.'

The light-hearted feeling turned to dead weight upon Thor's heart.

'Did you see his body?' Hela pushed on.

'Yes.'

'Did the letters stop?'

'Yes.'

'When?'

'Before I arrived in Asgard and received your letter, I was in Midgard. Then a portal opened and Loki's body and another man by the name of Elixir came out.'

'Elixir?'

'He is funny. He didn't come from any realm in particular.'

Hela stared down in her own cup, deep in thought.

'Describe him.'

'He is skilled in combat and magic. I do believe he also have some natural gifts of his own.'

Hela frowned even further.

'Sounds like, what do the migardians call it? Mutant. Except, magical mutant. Hmm…'

Thor watched Hela rise from her chair. Her elegant silk gown trailed behind her like a shadow.

'Uncle, lets go to Midgard now.'

'Now?'

'That's what I said.' Hela strode over to him and grabbed his hand, than darkness swallowed them whole.

OOO

Elixir didn't know if these midgardians are a bit thick or what, but certainly the metal room is such an under-rated holding cell for someone that can transform into monsters that their brains must be stuffed with straw.

Elixir moved into the corner furthest away from the door, drawing his blanket around him. He wondered how long Loki could last inside of him without a physical body of his own. And of course not to mention the blue one. He must be wary of him at all times.

No one visited him. He sat there as frozen as a statue for most of the day, thinking over an escape plan, or simply blaming himself for overestimating his will-power. After so long without a transformation, he had weakened quite a lot, that perhaps he will have to practice from the beginning all over again once he got out.

If he got out.

The door suddenly swung open without warning, making he draw his legs closer. The arrow man stepped in with a bowl of porridge and a spoon.

He didn't seem to have any weapons with him.

'How, are you.' The man forced himself to speak.

'Fine.' Elixir replied shortly. The band aid on his cheek starting to itch.

The man set the bowl down in front of him.

How much memories had this brought? He thought. To the days when he was in chains in the corner of the throne room, when servants brought forth scraps and bones to feed him, when he tried to communicate with them, only to be rejected, when he howled and yelped when no one notices, and then gets whipped for it.

'-Hello? Are you paying attention or not?'

Elixir snapped back into reality. The man was crouching in front of him, his face only arm's reach away.

'I said, I am sorry for shooting you last time. Can you forgive me?' The words came out forced and harsh. His face twisted up in at least ten emotions, making it look deadly serious and hilarious at the same time.

Elixir nodded.

'I forgive you.'

The man's face looked relieved.

'Good.'

He turned to leave.

'Wait.'

He stopped, but didn't look back on him.

'How long will I still stay here?'

'Probably for a long time now that you demonstrated your awesome skills at turning into a monster and loosing control.' The man snapped.

Elixir brought himself closer together. Fear and desperation boiled inside of him.

'How many did I hurt?' He whispered.

'If you don't count the Chitari you- I mean, no one.'

He let the temporary relief wash over him.

'Ok.'

The man stood still for a moment, then left.

OOO

A nice stroll to calm down will be nice. Bruce thought as he left the facility building. The mixed emotions inside of him was hard to tell. Examining Loki's body simply worsened it.

Especially when he peeled open the eyelids to find the iris, not blue, but green.

He shuddered at the flashback.

Then there was an explosion and two people emerged.

'Thor!' Bruce sputtered, more out of shock as people around them started screaming and running at the sight of people popping out of thin air.

'Banner.' Thor greeted wearily.

'Uncle,' the young woman standing next to him said in a rush. 'I wish to see this Elixir now. There is no time to waste.'

'Uncle?'

'Banner, this is Lady Hela, daughter of Loki, and therefore my niece.'

Bruce simply stared at the girl, opening and closing his mouth like a goldfish out of water.

'Uncle, there is no time!'

'Yes, of course.' Thor turned to Bruce. 'Where is Elixir?'

'Oh, she wished to visit him?'

'Yes, its an emergency.' Her green eyes pleaded.

'Well, yesterday, Elixir sort of, um, lost control. So Fury is now putting him under detention. I don't think you will be allow to-'

'Whatever you say.' Hela snapped her fingers and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

'Where did she go?' Bruce whirled around.

Thor let out a groan.

OOO

Natasha patted Clint on the shoulder.

'You did well.'

'I nearly snapped.'

'But you didn't.' Natasha retorted.

'I don't know why he would ask if he hurt anyone.' Clint looked up. 'Didn't he transform to hurt?'

'Maybe he didn't.'

Clint snorted.

'Yeah right.'

Someone knocked on the door. Clint walked over and opened it. A woman in a black dress stood outside.

'Hello, I think I am a bit lost. Could you tell me where the holding cells are?'

'Down stairs in the basement.'

'Thank you.' Then the woman disappeared.

It was after Natasha slapped him that Clint realized what he just did.

OOO

Sam swore he saw someone popped out off the shadows, but he simply shook his head and headed to the elevators. It must have been his lack of sleep.

OOO

Tony got the message from Bruce and rocketed over ASAP. Apparently the goddess of death thinks visiting Midgard without a note before hand is fun. Fury was still yelling hysterically at Tony to get his butt over when he landed in front of the doors.

OOO

Thor sat silent on the chair while Hill gave him lectures on bringing gods of death to Midgard without warning. Hill simply said its Fury's orders, but Thor personally think the maiden was scared out of her mind along with the rest of the people in the building who searched every nook and cranny for Hela.

Thor should have warned Hela of paranoid people, and not to teleport without telling anyone where she would go.

But obviously, his niece would have been curious about Shield and poke around. He just hoped she wouldn't do anything overly stupid.

Or overly Loki-like.


	7. A Certain Purple Person

Elixir heard people running and orders shouted through the metal door. For a moment he was frightened. Had the Chitari came back for him again?

A woman materialized out of the shadows. Her silk dress bellowed behind her, and her pale face seemed to be carved out of pearls. The dark eyes glinted with a curious expression.

'Hello.' She chirped cheerfully. 'I am Hela.'

Elixir stood up shakily and bowed slightly.

'Elixir.'

'Yes, I heard from uncle. Are you a friend of Loki?'

'I guess you can put it that way.'

'Well, you must know how he died then.'

Elixir eyed Hela suspiciously. He surely he heard her name from somewhere, but it seemed stuck at the back of his head.

Hela waved her hand and conjured a table and two heavy looking chairs. She sat down in one of them and motioned for Elixir to sit in the other.

'Tell me then, Elixir, what happened to Loki?'

'Why should I?'

Hela gave him a you-won't-want-to-mess-with-me look.

Elixir swallowed.

'Well, that day we were planning to go hunting, so we left the palace. Then the Chitari invaded.'

Hela put her elbows on the table and rested her chin in her hands.

'Go on.' She urged.

'And so we started running. People were after us. Loki said he knows a hole that would lead us to Midgard. But just as we arraived. The purple person was there.'

Hela frowned.

'Purple person? You mean Thanos?'

'Is that his name?'

'Yes. I am pretty sure.' Hela adverted her eyes for a fraction of a second. 'Continue with your story.'

'And so purple- I mean, Thanos was waiting for us. He blasted Loki with something, and then turned on me, but then Loki pulled me into the hole before Thanos can do so, and-'

'You arrived in Midgard?'

'Yes, in short.'

'You mean something happened between?'

'The fall was long. I don't know how long I was out.'

'Are you hiding something from me?'

Elixir scowled.

'No.'

'Liar liar pants on fire~ No, answer me properly. I can mind read but I would rather let you tell me.'

'Fine, Loki's conscious is in me, along with something blue that tried to kill me once already.'

Hela nodded.

'That was one of my theories. So, you are a host.' Hela straightened herself. 'Do you feel your energy depleting faster than normal? Or maybe feel hungrier than normal?'

'No?'

'Wait, I am rushing. Tell me about yourself.'

'Seriously.'

'Yes, do it before my patience runs out.'

'I am created from a potion accident. I don't know how old I am, and the name is made up. I wander from realm to realm. My home is currently this cell, since Jutoheim is under attack and not safe to return for.'

'Hmm, interesting.' Hela mumbled thoughtfully. 'Do you ever find yourself short of energy or magic?'

'Rarely.'

'So you have a bigger magic capacity than normal.'

'I do?'

'Don't interrupt me. I haven't finished.' Hela stood up and paced around the room. 'That means at least for now, Loki is safe inside of you. You heard of the body?'

'People told me its ok.'

'Good, I can fetch it later. Then we can perform the extraction and perhaps remove the 'blue one' in the process.'

'Wait-'

'Then I can get both you and Loki outta here-'

'But-'

'And of course dealing with this idiot uncle and his friends with be fairly easy-'

'Please! Why do you care about Loki so much?'

'He's my father, Elixir, that's why.'

Then she was gone. The furniture dissolved into smoke, dumping Elixir on the floor, still confused with what he just heard.

OOO

Hela was happy with the result of her interrogation. She got everything she needed without even really trying.

And no, she can't read minds, but that always worked when it comes to making people confess their sins in court. Makes things much more simpler.

She strutted down the hallways, earning curious looks from many people. They should see her in her skeleton and scythe form, she thought.

'Excuse me ma'am.' A blond man walked up to her bravely and said. 'Do you happen to be Hela?'

'Why yes, you found the right person.' She could see out of the corner of her eyes people around them scuttle down the halls.

'I am afraid you will have to come with me for the time being.' The man lowered his head apologetically.

'And if I don't?'

'Its entirely up to you, ma'am.'

'I will follow you, if you stop calling me that.'

'Of course, ma- Hela.'

She followed the man, smiling at the frightened looks on people faces as they pointed and whispered to each other.

OOO

'Director Fury, I have Hela with me.'

'Bring her in.'

The woman almost glided through the door.

After all, Fury thought to himself, people don't call her 'angel of death' for nothing.

Fury nodded at Steve, who quickly stepped outside and closed the door.

'What have we owned the pleasure of your company?' Fury decided to start it simple.

'No, I came on my own accord.'

'For what?'

'For sorting out some problems with my father. He often gets himself in trouble, doesn't he?'

Fury stood silent, waiting for her to continue.

'Loki happened to be found dead in your streets along with a being by the name of Elixir, is it not?'

'Yes.'

'I visited him just then. He wasn't responsible for my father's death.'

'We realized that.'

'No, there's more.' Hela shifted closer into the center of the room. 'It seemed to me you are treating him like a criminal.'

'He threatened the whole facility with his transformations.'

'Hmm, heard that. Well, you can take him out now. As long as there isn't a reason for him to transform, he wouldn't.'

'What makes you think of that?'

'I know of that. And, besides, a metal vault isn't enough to contain him.'

'We will be relocating him to a specialized cell tonight.'

'Restraining his magic won't be enough.' Hela scoffed. 'The shape-shifting is in his nature. And unless you can find something that won't melt under lava, or burn in acid, or stronger than diamonds, how about moving him to a room with a actual bed at the very least?'

Fury was definitely not used to being told off by little girls.

'Oh, and by the way, have you heard of one called Thanos?'

'No.'

'Oh, then I will describe him. He's disgusting, and purple. He wants to take over the entire universe. No, actually, he wants to destroy it. He loves killing people. He is the one that killed Loki. And, oh, we happened to be dating.'

Fury nearly spat out the water he was drinking just then.

'Yeah, my father will definitely not approve. But it was boring stuck in a dark empty castle for millions of years. But of course, I would love to get rid of him. He's getting a bit too-over-the-top serious with the whole destruction of the world thing. If you need any aid, I will provide it as long it is in my control, if you promise me something.'

'What makes you so sure we would need your help?'

Hela rolled her eyes.

'Yeah yeah, no one wants a Queen of the Dead by their side in a war.'

'What are your conditions?'

OOO

'Is this even legit to be related to the Grim Reaper?'

'Yes, Man of Iron. Lady Hela is indeed my niece and Loki's daughter.'

'So, she knows that Loki is dead?' Bruce asked.

'No, Loki is not dead.'

'Yeah, he isn't.'

Everyone turned to Stark.

'Sorry guys, I didn't have the chance to say this, but Loki is apparently inside of Potion Boy and he is living.'

'Why didn't you tell me?' Thor yelled furiously.

'I don't want to put in too much hope.'

Steve entered the room just in time before Thor smashed Tony's brains out.

'Guys, this is Hela.' He gestured the woman behind him.

'Hello.' Hela said coolly.

'Yes, of course. Welcome to our humble abode.' Tony strolled forward for a shake. 'I am Tony Stark. Genius, billionaire-'

'Yeah yeah thanks.' Hela smacked his hand away. Natasha let out a low whistle.

'Well,' She continued on without breaking a sweat. 'This is the Avengers Initiative I heard about then. First, thanks for protecting Midgard. I really don't need masses of people queuing to be judged. Second, thanks for not killing Elixir on sight, I need him alive. Third, no thanks for beating up my father last year.'

'Oh.' Tony uttered.

'But you are definitely forgiven. Loki didn't come back and cause any more havoc, did he?'

'It's only because he wanted to pretend to be dead.' Thor retorted.

'My father is perfectly capable of being dead and taking on revenge, thank very much.'

'He is still responsible for the destruction and deaths he caused!' Clint snapped.

'What about you?' Hela said without stopping. She snapped her fingers. At least a dozen assorted arrows appearing in her hands.

People turned to find Clint panicking as he tried to reach for the arrows that weren't there.

'No, just don't.' Hela snapped them all in her bare hand, littering them all over the floor. 'Shooting at people because they said something intriguing is rude, didn't your mother teach you that?'

Clint snarled and tried to lunge at her. Natasha flipped him over and made his back smack on the floor.

'Clint!' Natasha hissed.

'Sorry.' Clint groaned.

'Apologize accepted. I broke your arrows anyway. Well, I will visit again tomorrow if I happened to be free. See ya.' Hela smiled and waved, then was gone.

'Legolas,' Tony wondered. 'What exactly were you trying to do just then? Tackle the goddess of death?'

Clint palmed his face.

'You are the one that got rejected by her.' Natasha always stands by Clint.

'I did it on purpose.' Tony puffed out his chest. 'Isn't it a good thing?'

OOO

Agents escorted Elixir into a room with a bed, a window and a table. After they slammed the door, he immediately started searching for any detonators, cameras, hidden poison darts & etc. He found none.

He expected them to think he would put down his guard and take the chance to kill him, but apparently they were nicer than that.

Or was it someone else?

He tried the door, only to find it no even locked.

Is he free to come and go wherever he wants then?

He sat down on the bed. The soft pillows and mattress was welcoming after several weeks of the cold, hard floor. Maybe he will just take a short nap.

A 'very short' one.

OOO

Wanda sensed someone behind her. She whirled around with her hands up in defense, but it's only a woman.

'Its not like I am a assassinator or something.' The woman muttered dejectedly.

'Sorry, I am just a bit, jumpy these days.' Wanda lowered her hands.

'How are you dealing with life?'

'Who are you?'

'Hela. I am simply visiting this place, and I heard many things about you.'

'You did?'

'Yes, he wouldn't stop ranting. But it's was nice to have someone to talk to.'

Wanda widened her eyes.

'Who?'

'He called himself Pietro.'

Her hands shook. Her lips trembled.

The woman smiled sadly and brushed a tear from her cheek. Wanda didn't even notice. The touch of Hela's fingers was electrifying and cold.

'Visit the tomb tomorrow.' The woman whispered. 'I may set up a meeting.'

The wind blew hair into her puffy eyes. When she brushed them away, Hela wasn't there anymore.

Death's touch lingered on her cheek as she allowed the tears to fall like the raging storm inside.


	8. The Witch, The Falcon and the Spider

'Where are you going?'

'Its not you business, Vision.'

Vision nodded.

'Of course.'

Then he left through the walls.

Wanda turned on her feet and quickly fled the building. She didn't want people asking her more questions.

'Hello, Agent Coulson.' Wanda greeted politely.

'Good morning, Miss Maximoff.'

'I suppose you prepared the transportation I asked for?'

'Yes.' Coulson pointed at the black car behind him. 'We need to take a short drive, and then we will go by helicopter.'

Wanda nodded, excited by the fact everything is going to plan.

She was even too excited to realize a pigeon flying after them.

OOO

'Where is Elixir now?'

'On the terrace, Director.'

'For how long?'

'An hour.'

Fury knitted his brow together.

'Get someone to check it out.'

OOO

'Steve, did they move Elixir to a guest room?'

'Well, yes.'

'Without anything like, you know, lasers, poison gas, vault doors, or something?'

'No.'

'Ok.' Tony shrugged. 'So they are basically allowing him to go around on his own, right?'

'Yes.'

'What convinced Fury to do that?'

'Um, yesterday I sort of overheard what Fury and Hela said.' Steve looked guilty. 'She said she will provide help if Fury allows Elixir to be in a proper room, and gives him access to anything he needs. And also she said he needs training.'

'So, basically, all the conditions are about Elixir?'

'Yeah. She said Elixir is going to be an important part of defeating Thanos.'

Tony frowned. It's hard to imagine the scrawny little dude fighting a giant that wants to destroy everything.

'Yeah, he will definitely need training.' Tony shuddered.

'Heard Nat is taking over.' Clint muttered from where he is on the sofa.

Tony made a stinky face.

'Tell her to be nicer. Last time she convinced me to play with her and I ended up in a wheelchair.'

'I am not one to tell her what to do.'

'Guys!' Bruce opened the door, panting. 'Elixir is not in the facility anymore!'

OOO

'Thanks for the ride!'

'Six hours, don't forget!'

Then the chopper whirled and roared. It flew further and further until it was no more than a speck in the cloudless sky.

Wanda turned and stepped into the cemetery. Rows and rows of identical stones stretched out, each representing a loss from Sokovia. But this time, Wanda is only looking for one.

She forced herself to keep on going, and tried not to focus on the other tombs, but its impossible.

 _Gabriella Lindy Blanca, 69_

 _Rena Prohits, 38_

 _Maximus Gordon, 58_

 _Daniel Lewis, 23_

 _Grace Ko, 8_

 _Pietro Maximoff-_

Wanda steadied herself and rubbed her eyes. No, if she's going to see her brother one last time, she's not going to have a melt down.

A flapping came from above. An eagle glided through the air and came down slowly onto Pietro. Its feathers ruffled and its claws scrapped the stone. It looked at Wanda with its golden eyes.

'Shoo!' Wanda cried. But the eagle didn't budge, only to stare at her even more.

Wanda felt uneasy. She didn't know what to do, she didn't know when Pietro will come either. Or maybe he will never come, maybe yesterday was a dream.

'Yeah, I was hallucinating.' Wanda said quietly to herself. The eagle tipped its head to one side, as if trying to understand.

'I mean, how can a angel of the dead come over to me and tell me she put me up with a meeting with my brother?' She continued. The eagle seemed to nod.

'Or its one of the agents jokes.'

The eagle lowered its head to scratch under its great wings.

'You may as well pay attention too.' Wanda muttered. 'I am having one of my rare moments where I am going crazy and talking to a bird.'

It didn't show it heard.

'Yeah,' Wanda slouched over and sat herself down in front of the grave. 'I am going mad. I am suppose to be the one manipulating people's minds, and now I am going mad.'

The eagle jerked its head up, as if suddenly interested.

'Hmm? Interested in getting people crazy, aren't you?'

The eagle blinked.

'Right, you are annoying me. If I allow myself to just try…' Wanda raised her hand and pretended to snap something. The eagle, however, didn't look threatened and went back to grooming itself.

Wanda put on her sarcastic face.

'Just get off my brother's tomb, will you?'

No answer.

'Get, off.'

No answer.

Wanda let a little wisp of red energy out from her palm. It shot towards the bird, giving it a sting and making it topple off.

'Ha!' Wanda scoffed. 'That's for not listening to me.'

The eagle straightened itself and puffed out its chest in dignity.

'Still pretending to be America symbol, hmm? Well, you need a white head for that, not brown all over.'

It turned its back to her and trotted off.

'Wait! Stay!'

The eagle didn't stop.'

'Please~'

It finally turned around and flapped its way back onto the stone. Wanda swore she saw it smirking.

'Right then,' Wanda scanned her head for conversation starters to pass the time. Even though, of course, she will be the only one talking.

'You have any hobbies?' As soon as the question came out Wanda felt more stupid. In her mad world, eagles like drawing.

'Are you alone?'

The eagle snapped at a butterfly in the air.

'Well, I am.' Wanda crossed her legs. 'I mean, family wise.'

The wind picked up, tossing bits of leaves and dust into the air.

'My parents died in a bombing. My brother died a few months ago.'

Funny, she thought to herself. Why do I feel a lot better? Like a knot in her chest, unraveling and loosening its grip.

'How does it feel like to fly?'

'How does it feel like to have wings?'

Wanda found herself pelted random question after random question at the eagle, even when she isn't expecting an answer.

Eventually, when the sun was directly above them, she knew she couldn't keep her temporary companion any longer. After all, she might go without a lunch, but the eagle definitely wouldn't be happy.

'Its, nice to see you.' Wanda looked up. 'You may go now.'

It peered sadly at her, as if pitying.

'Don't.' She warned, pointed a finger at it.

The eagle got the message and took off. Its wings lifting it off the ground, sending it soaring upwards at a most amazing speed that it seemed to be a miracle. It circled the sky a few times before hovering, diving, spinning, as if showing off acrobat skills. When it finished, it flapped slowly and silently off into the distance.

OOO

'Have you seen Wanda?' Steve asked. 'Or Sam? Or Peter?'

'No.' Natasha answered.

'Hmm.' Steve frowned. 'Why does everyone seem to be missing today?'

'Maybe they all wanted some free time to themselves. Shield is a bit dull.'

'Yes, that might be it.'

'Why are you always scared of young people running off?'

'I am not scared.'

'Yes, of course you are not.' Then Natasha sauntered off, leaving Steve utterly in conflict with himself.

OOO

The city is truly amazing if you look at it from above. Elixir thought. The streets spreading out like a spider web, keeping the place together in one piece. The cars and trucks and people moving like ants.

It is a lot different from Asgard or Jotunheim. There will only be one big place where the royalties live in, and where the King and his family lives, and the rest of the kingdom would be pretty much scattered houses and huts surrounding the castle walls. Here, there are lots of tall buildings, or 'skyscrapers' as Tony called them. And many people who don't know each other live in one same building.

A flock of pigeons flew past underneath him, so he quickly switched and merged in with the crowd. The birds were so dumb they didn't notice a thing.

As they happened to pass over the Shield facility building, he did a quick dive and landed lightly on the floor.

Ok, no lasers.

He hopped around for a little, pecking and pretending to be as pigeon-like as possible. He's practicing, since this form seemed to be more convenient than a bat or a crow. He's collecting forms, actually. You never know when you need something specific to change to.

A curious figure opened a door. It's a man, really. It looked like one, but it had something on its back, like metal wings.

Birds, Captain, practice, get some fresh air.

Surely it wouldn't work. Elixir scratched himself.

The man didn't even look in his direction as he prepared himself. He stretched out the metal limbs, examining them closely before tugging them on. Red light shot out, but, as in 'solid' light.

Elixir squinted. Maybe his mind is playing tricks.

The man leapt off the railing.

Elixir started panicking. He quickly looked down over the side to see the man gliding around the building with ease. He flapped them and started ascending.

Cool. He thought.

Someone else opened the door again. Elixir quickly went back to pecking the floor as a man in a strange blue and red costume walked out.

Crawling, meeting with Tony, webs.

Elixir shuddered. He was never fond of spiders.

The man with wings saw this as well and landed. The wings drew back into a folded shape.

'Hello, Peter.'

'Hi Sam.' The costume man took out some cans. 'Here.'

'Thanks.'

There's a few pops and fizzing. Then the men started drinking in silence as they gazed over the city. The costume man didn't bother to lift his mask off though, only to lift off a bit to show his mouth to drink.

'Wouldn't Captain be looking for us?' Sam asked.

'Yeah, he wouldn't admit it, but he is freaking out.'

'Hmph. Its not like we would run away and 'join the Dark Side'.'

Peter smiled at the quote.

'And then turn into Darth Vaders and control robots of evil.'

Sam sniggered.

'Without one hand.'

Then they both started laughing. Elixir only stared.

Peter turned his head around to survey the area. He fixed on him.

'Is it just me or do you think this pigeon is suspicious?'

Sam turned as well.

'You are just being paranoid.'

Peter frowned.

'Yeah, paranoid. Of course its ok to be paranoid in a place like Shield.'

'Fine.' Sam walked up to Elixir. 'Go on, pigeon, are you going to explode or what?'

Elixir started pecking again.

'See, Peter, its only a bird, not a detonator.'

'Yeah, it might not be. But did you hear about the guy that came here with a dead person?'

Elixir pretended not to hear.

'Yeah, so?'

'And he happened to have shape-shifting powers as well.'

Sam rolled his eyes.

'Its just a stupid bird, Peat.'

'Oh shut up, Sammy.'

'Oi!'

'Right, enough for you two. Stop behaving like children.' A voice called out.

Everyone turned to see Natasha sashaying over.

'What are you two arguing about anyway?'

'Peter insists that that pigeon is the shape-shifter.'

'I am only suggesting!'

'Quiet you two.' The boys both shut up.

Natasha turned towards Elixir. He froze.

'Elixir, there's no need for you to eavesdrop on people's conversations.'

Flames surround him. His limbs grew longer. The itchy feathers melted awak. When everything clear, the boys gasped.

'I am not eavesdropping.' Elixir muttered.

'Yes you are.' Natasha said calmly.

'I am merely practicing before these two walked in themselves.'

'Practicing?'

'To pretend to be a bird.' Elixir turned to the men. 'I did a great job, didn't I?'

'Less staring and more moving around.' Sam answered.

'Ok.'

'Where were you in the morning?' Natasha questioned. 'Fury nearly had a heart attack.'

'I thought I am free to go wherever I want whenever I want.'

'If you tell someone first.'

'So,' Peter said, cautiously. 'You are not evil or anything?'

Elixir shrugged.

'I do what I think is right.'

'Ok.' Peter slightly slackened his posture. 'At least its better than 'doing what everyone else hates'.'

'So, who exactly is he now?' Sam asked Natasha.

'Guest.' She replied shortly.

'Well, hello.' Peter walked up to him and shook his hand. 'I am Spiderman, but my real name is Peter Parker.'

'Falcon.' The other man walked over. 'Sam Wilson.'

'Hello.'

'Wait, so you came from another world, right?'

'Well, I move a lot.'

'You came to earth before, Elixir?'

'One or twice.'

'When?'

'I don't remember exactly, but the last time I came is, um, 9.11? I don't know why they call it that. Some sort of disaster, I guess.'

'Oh. So, you know how to use computers, phones and stuff?'

'Yeah, a bit.'

'Phew.' Peter took off his mask to reveal a young face and brown hair. He wiped his forehead. 'Then you are definitely better to be with than Thor.'

OOO

Natasha watched the pair disappear through the door as Peter tried to explain to Elixir how his web shooter works.

Sam looked at Natasha incredulously.

'You set them up?'

'I only took the opportunity to do so.'

'So, he's more than 'guest', isn't he?'

'No,' Natasha nodded. 'He's a lot more than that.'


	9. Training Day

'Why do you look so sad, Wanda?' Coulson asked.

She shook her head, still distressed.

'What happened?'

'Nothing.'

Coulson nodded, turned and left the room.

Wanda buried her head in her arms. It was a dream after all. She didn't see anyone come.

She didn't know what she should be expecting, really. A ghost? A zombie?

'Shut up.' She told her brain.

OOO

'What is it like in Thor's home city? Have you visited there before?'

'Yes, but, the experience was pretty unpleasant.'

'Oh, really?'

'Basically I went on court and got banned from ever visiting again.'

'Why?'

'The King didn't trust me in his realm. He knew I have, destruction powers.'

'But that's just rude.'

'Hmph. Not the first place I am banished from.'

'How many places have you visited?'

'Not really 'visit', more like 'taking a rest and keep on going so no one will started blasting something after you'.'

'So, how many?'

'Pretty much every known place in the World Tree.'

'Hmm.' Peter stared up into the ceiling in awe, as if trying to imagine a tree growing in space. 'Are the stars different in each place?'

'Very.'

'Which ones do you like best?'

'I think, the ones in Asgard.' Elixir said slowly. 'They are the brightest and most colourful ones.'

'So, like seeing space without the need of a telescope?'

'Yeah, I guess.'

'Is it true that they believe that when they die they become stars?'

'Yes. When they die, they put the bodies in boats and float them down the lake, not bury them.'

Peter frowned.

'Why boats?'

Elixir shook his head.

'Not sure.'

Someone knocked on the door. Peter rushed over to open it.

'Oh, hi, Director.'

Elixir froze, even though he was blocked by the wall and wouldn't be seen by the visitor.

'Where have you been today?'

'Getting some fresh air. It was a bit stifling inside the building.'

'We keep the air con on 24/7.'

'And I also need some swinging around.' Peter quickly added.

'Do you happen to meet anyone today?'

'Um,' Peter hesitated. Elixir did tell him he shouldn't be found. 'I met Sam today.'

'Anyone new?'

'Nope.'

'Good. There's an evil kid running loose around the facility. He's about your age. If you see him, just report to any agent.'

'If he is evil why is he allowed to run around?'

'We have no choice. Someone forced us against our will.'

'Oh, really?'

'See you tomorrow.' Then the footstep travelled away.

Peter closed the door.

'I don't get it.' Peter frowned. 'Clearly you are not _my_ age.'

'Yeah,' Elixir nodded. 'About four million years older.'

OOO

'Apparently, it wasn't just a potion accident.' Bruce muttered.

'What, so you are saying Elixir lied to Coulson?'

'No, if Elixir was four million years old or so, as he told Natasha in one conversation, and if we take Norse Mythology into consideration,' Bruce looked up from his book. 'Clearly he couldn't have came from any other place except for earth because he knew its four million years, and time doesn't really work in any other place.'

Tony scowled.

'I never knew you are interested in history.'

'I never expected myself to ever work with monsters, gods and robots all in one damn day either.'

'Yeah, that makes sense.'

OOO

'Four million?' Peter gasped.

'About that.'

'How do you know?'

'I keep track by making marks on the Stone Hedge.'

'But you said you only visited earth for one or twice.'

' _Properly_ visited once or twice.' Elixir replied. 'The rest is just for the sake of making marks.'

'Wow.' Peter mused.

Another knocking came from the door. Peter ushered Elixir into his closet. They might have got lucky once, but its best not to risk it.

'Oh, hi Clint.'

Shoot, Elixir thought. Arrow man.

'Who were you talking to just then?'

'Oh, talking to Gwen on the phone.'

'I thought your phone got turned into a laser shooter after Tony took it.'

'I got a new one.'

'Show me.'

Peter walked around the room then returned to the door.

'Here. Tony paid for me.'

'Hmm.' There's a few clicks, and- 'Your call history said the last person you called is 'Mr Pizza Man'.'

'Its, a joke between me and Gwen.'

'Should we try this calling then?'

'No!'

'Who were you talking to.'

'None of you business.'

'Is it Elixir?'

'Um…'

'Yeah, he probably turned into a bird and flew out of the window.' Clint said, casually. 'Always behaving strangely and extremely not-predicting-'

'Why do you want to know whether he was here or not?'

'Nothing.'

'Seriously.'

'Fine, Natasha wants to find him so they could start with some tests.'

'Tests?'

'For his fighting tactics. Just to see how good, or bad, he is.'

'Oh.'

'If he comes back, tell him to go to B2.'

'Ok.'

The door closed.

Elixir opened the closet door for just a slight peak.

'Is he gone?'

'Yeah.'

Elixir sighed and allowed the closet door to swing wider.

'Where is B2?' He asked.

'Um, basement, where the training rooms are. I will take you there.'

OOO

'Nat, are you ok?'

Natasha scowled at Clint, putting him off. She wasn't panicking. She was just trying to lower her anxiety.

That was technically the same thing, but who cares.

The door opened, Peter steered Elixir in.

'Here.' Peter indicated the room. 'This is one of the training rooms.'

Elixir only nodded and stared up at the ceiling, at least twice as high as a normal room.

'Hey Peter.' Natasha said. 'Why don't you check on Wanda? She seemed a bit down.'

Peter frowned.

'Yeah, she should be in her room now.' Clint added.

With a funny look at both of them, Peter turned on his heels and left. The sound of the door shutting echoed through the spacious room.

Good, Natasha thought. They would rather do this alone.

Elixir looked extremely uncomfortable, being left in a room with two assassins.

He probably figured it out with his mind reading skills already. She thought.

'So, lets start will normal sparring. No weapons, no magic, no transformations and especially, no mind reading.' Natasha stressed on the last note.

Elixir smiled mischievously.

'Ok.' He shrugged.

OOO

Clint still didn't trust a damn thing about this kid.

Not, one, bit.

He watched warily as the two stood opposite of each other in the room. Elixir didn't look a bit frightened.

He should be. Natasha was just putting on her 'casual looks' to make him put off guard.

Clint could already predict what would happen in his head. The kid would end up in the medics for at least three weeks and Natasha will shrug the whole thing off like its nothing.

Clint was wrong.

Two minutes into it, and Natasha hadn't even _touched_ Elixir. Not that Elixir was running away, but because he dodged _every single thing without backing off._

Clint realized his mouth was open and quickly shut it.

But Natasha was just testing him first with basic stuff, and was most irritated that he hadn't hit back. So she stopped standing on the offence side and stepped back, exposing herself to anything.

'Go on. Or you don't know how?' Natasha said in a mocking voice.

Elixir didn't move.

Natasha punched him in his face. Clint bit his lip. He swore he heard something crack.

Then there was a blur, and Natasha was flying through the air.

Clint gasped and shot up to his feet. But of course Nat, being number one spy, allowed herself to take a dignified roll, rather than smack on the floor. Her face was frozen in surprise.

Elixir stood where he was the whole time, rubbing his cheek furiously.

Natasha wiped her forehead and brushed herself off.

'Let's take a break and then continue.'

Elixir turned and headed out the room.

'Nat, what exactly happened then?'

'He was fast, and strong.' Nat popped a coke and chugged it down.

Clint scowled. Natasha _did_ get thrown across the room by a kid?

'He definitely had training. But more defense than anything else. Meaning, he hadn't gone on any fights head to head.'

''That's something to improve on then.' Clint tried to say something useful.

'No, for him, it might be because he has his other strengths. If you can change into animals, you don't need to practice fighting.'

'Makes sense.'

The conversation ended when Elixir returned.

'Sorry for throwing you.' He muttered.

'No offence taken.' Natasha replied lightly.

Clint noticed his cheek didn't seem bruised at all.

Maybe magic covering? He wondered.

'Right, if I remember correctly, You work best with daggers?'

'I don't mind, but I do prefer daggers and spears.'

A flashback came into Clint's head. When Loki walked down the dark corridors. His green cape dragged after him; his back slouched; his face scowling and drained; his hand clenched around the scepter. Day and night, he saw him limping around with no aim whatsoever and muttering to himself:

' _Dead end…'_

'Clint? I am asking you a question.' Natasha snapped her fingers in front of his face.

'Huh?'

'How about you go against Elixir with a weapon of your choice.'

'Oh.' He turned to Elixir. 'What are you using then?'

Elixir waved his and something glinted in the light. The two wicked looking daggers in his hand were made completely out of silver, and had runes engraved on its sides.

'I choose my bow and arrow.'

Natasha frowned.

'You sure?'

'Yes, but Nat, turn it to pillar forest will you?'

She nodded then went of to one side of the room. She tapped on the screen in the wall, and the floor shifted. The normal looking stone tiles rose and sank until the floor became uneven and solid pillars towered.

Elixir only stared at the sight.

'No wonder the ceiling is so high.' He mumbled to himself.

Clint smirked at his opponent's shock. He knew this particular training setting by heart.

'Same rules, Elixir!' Natasha called from somewhere above to monitor the scene easier. 'Now, three, two, one!'

Clint dashed off first into the fight, knowing _exactly_ where to go.


	10. Shot Again

Elixir snuck through the pillar forest, watching his step and looking all around for any sign of movement.

He had the disadvantage here. His opponent wouldn't knew this place well and planned his attack before hand, making even have a station where he waits for the unwary passerby to pick off. But Elixir liked challenges. The warriors back hom- Jotunheim, never even looked at him in the eyes after his first training session. All except Loki, who was smiling amusingly all along.

He looked up. A ladder he didn't notice before led up to an overseeing metal platform along the walls. Natasha looked down with her intense eyes, leaning over the railing to get a clear look.

An arrow zipped past his face and pinned itself on a pillar behind him. Elixir quickly ducked and hid behind it.

Where did it come from?

A second one fixed itself just above his head. He looked up and noticed Arrow Man leaping from the top of one pillar to another, then out of sight.

Of course. Birds feel best when they are higher up.

To catch a bird, you either wait for it to come down.

Or go up and hunt for it.

He did a quick run-up and pushed off one pillar to give him the boost to reach another higher one. He quickly crouched down when he saw the Arrow Man on another pillar not far off with his back towards him, still peering down for his prey.

As soon as one of the daggers left his hand, he knew he made a stupid decision in his heart. Trained people like Arrow Man could hear something flying towards them from behind louder than thunder.

Clint dodged the dagger on the last second and shot a few arrows in Elixir's direction. He dodged some and blocked another with his dagger.

Usually, he would be able to teleport his other dagger back, but Natasha said 'no magic'.

Elixir quickly closed the distance between them, knocking arrows aside as easy as swatting flies. Obviously, bow and arrows wouldn't do well in close combat.

Just as Clint was within arm's reach, he swung his bow under his legs, knocking Elixir off his feet. He missed the ledge and fell down onto the solid floor, hitting his head against the stone.

A dull ringing echoed in his ears.

Then everything turned blue.

OOO

Clint leapt down the pillar and landed lightly by Elixir's side.

Damn it Clint, he shouted in his head. You got carried away.

Elixir didn't move. He probably got knocked out hitting his head hard against the floor.

Natasha dashed through and knelt down behind Elixir.

'Elixir, are you alright?' She asked, but got no reply.

'I will go and get someone.' She said quickly then disappeared. The floor shifted, and the terrain started to turn back into the flat setting.

Clint looked up and saw Natasha slip out of the door.

He looked back down on the kid as he tried to process what just happened. He was cooler than he imagined, calmly strolling towards him and whacking arrows away like they are nothing.

Elixir's eyes fluttered open.

'Hey, are you-' Clint was cut off when a dagger lashed out, grazing his arm.

He backed up and notched an arrow. Elixir stood up shakily, swaying from side to side.

'Elixir?' Clint called out. Something didn't look right.

Elixir looked straight into his eyes for a fraction of a second, then he understood why.

'Elixir, shake it off.' Clint said calmly. 'It's the Tesseract controlling you.'

The unnatural blue eyes blinked owlishly.

 _'Really?'_

The voice was harsh and hissy, and so familiar. Clint backed up a few more steps.

'Stop controlling him.' He tried in his most commanding voice.

 _'Or else what?'_ Elixir moved his mouth, but it wasn't his voice that came out. _'Will you shoot an arrow through him, or will you kill him in another more gruesome way?'_

Clint shuddered.

'Just get out of him!'

 _'Is that so?'_ He narrowed his eyes and formed a sneer. _'You have no idea who you are actually looking at. I can see in his mind things he couldn't even see himself. His past was kept from him for what the one thought was for the better, but its backfiring.'_

'What do you mean?'

 _'One cannot survive in one time that he doesn't belong in.'_

'What?'

 _'Hmph. The fool, thinking he saved something. But he did the exact opposite. Soon, he will be the one that destroys the worlds.'_

'You are lying.'

 _'Lying? Why would I lie, human?'_ He started advancing slowly, taking his time. _'Shall I be a bit more straightforward to make you understand?'_

'You need to shut up.'

 _'This being you see is not human. He was not born four million years ago. His memory was manipulated to think so. He will be made to be a killer machine, a weapon that will be intended bring the ultimate destruction to the entire universe.'_

'Why are you saying everything is future tense?'

He stopped within arm's reach of Clint's bow, and laughed softly.

 _'He is a being from the future, human.'_ He twirled the dagger in his hand, sending reflected light dancing across the walls and floor. _'The one will be foolish to think he did good, drugging him and taking him all the way to earth four million years before present in his curious machine.'_

The door banged open to reveal Natasha and an agent. She froze when she saw a snarling Elixir turn on her.

'Nat!' Clint cried out.

The dagger left Elixir's hand in a flash. Natasha lunged and brought the stunned agent to the floor with her. The projectile impaled itself in the wall, sinking to the hilt.

Clint let the arrow fly. Elixir turned, only to smirk one last time before the arrow sank deep in his neck. The eyes turned back to its normal color and rolled back as his body tilted backwards, meeting the cold hard floor once more.

OOO

For a moment, Natasha was dumbstruck.

Her comrade just shot their trainee in the neck after their trainee attempted to kill her and another person with a flying dagger.

Right.

She snapped back to her senses. She scrambled forward and knelt down beside Elixir, panicking. Red gurgled forth from his mouth and the puncture in his neck. The smell of blood was sickening.

She tried to stay calm. She shot a look at Clint, who stood very still, only realizing what had happened.

'I…'

'No, Clint, apologize later.' Natasha snapped. 'Get help.'

Clint sprinted to the door and out, screaming incoherent words.

She felt something warm against her cold fingers. She raised her hand and see them already stained red, even dripping. Natasha didn't dare to look down.

 _How can you wipe away so much red?_

Elixir stirred.

'Don't move.'

He slowly opened his eyes, but they were a dim green.

Elixir smiled weakly and mouthed something.

 _Mewling quim._

OOO

'Is that Elixir with an arrow stinking out of him I just saw pushed by?'

'Yes, Tony.'

'Why did Clint shoot him?'

'Elixir was trying to kill me.'

'Wait, isn't that what he was training for?'

'Throwing daggers at your trainer and another agent wasn't part of any training.'

'Right.'

'Clint said he was controlled by the Tessaract.'

'Like, last time when he tried to strangle himself?'

'Basically.'

They stood in awkward silence. Steve's cat batted at Tony's shoelaces.

'Its not Clint's fault.' Natasha insisted once more. 'He was trying to protect me and the other agent.'

Why is Natasha behaving strangely? Tony wondered.

'I didn't say anything, but-' He paced his way to the window. The city beneath him looked gloomy and dark in the foggy weather. 'Why? What does killing Elixir and everyone else he could get his hands on benefit him in any way?'

'Loki.' Someone replied.

The two of them whirled around and saw a dead looking Clint standing in the doorway.

'Oh, Clint.' Natasha gasped.

'Elixir was already awake. And I went to apologize, but he didn't remember a thing.'

'Like last time.' Tony repeated again.

'The Tesseract clearly wanted Loki dead, but I don't get something.' Clint strolled in and sat down on a chair. 'The Tesseract said something about Elixir coming from the future and being a weapon and-'

'Hold on, what?' Tony interrupted.

'Before Natasha came back he took control of Elixir and started telling me about, things. He said his memories were changed to make it look like he lived four million years, but its turns out he wasn't. He was created in the future by some people, and he was created to bring destruction to the world. But it turns out there was this someone carried him all the way to earth four million years ago and made Elixir forget everything that happened.'

'But, the only person able to do so is…' Natasha choked.

'The Doctor?' Tony and Clint stammered at once.

'I remember him when he last visited. Total showoff and stuff.' Tony added.

'Better than you, he's a Time Lord, you are not.' Clint retorted.

'Guys, I think its best not to tell Doctor Who or Elixir we knew of this.' Natasha cleared her throat and stated. 'It might do something bad, especially Elixir. We don't want him to remember anything unpleasant.'

He deserved to know who he was, Tony thought guiltily. But will it be for the better or worse is a very hard question.

Clint buried his head in his hands.

'This is just total crap.' He muttered.

OOO

Bruce leaned against the wall and pinched his nose again. After seeing Elixir all battered up and bandaged, he felt angry.

But he didn't know at whom.

Thanos? Clint? Natasha? Fury? Cosmic Cube? Loki? Elixir? The world?

He shook his head, trying to brush the thoughts away.

'Hello.'

He yelped at the sudden noise.

'Oh, sorry.' The woman said quietly. 'I didn't mean to scare you.'

'Nothing, Lady Hela, of course not.'

'Just call me Hela. So I heard from some of the nurses chit-chat that Elixir this time got shot with an arrow in his neck?'

'Yes.'

'Why won't he get out of trouble?' Hela whined. 'For goodness sake, my _father_ is inside of him! He may as well be careful instead of trying to get himself killed!'

'Actually, Hela,' Bruce tried to point out. 'Elixir wouldn't remember anything about it because it was the Tesseract's power taking over his body-'

'How long has this been happening?'

'This is only the second time. The first is when we first brought him in.'

'And its doing more than just controlling the body now, isn't it?'

'It could talk through him.'

'Its getting stronger, feeding on Elixir's near-unlimited power.' Hela scowled as she paced up and down the empty corridor, her dress fluttered lightly. 'Soon Elixir wouldn't be able to keep him down.'

'Why does the Tesseract want Elixir dead?'

'Not him, Loki.' Hela corrected. 'And it would be stupid of him to waste away such a source of power.'

Bruce shuddered.

'So, it will try and kill Loki, and then take over Elixir completely?'

'That's the best guess.'

'Why is Elixir so, take-over-able?'

'He is a weapon from the future as I overheard from the conversation of your fellow Avengers. Doctor, think about what they would like a weapon to be?'

Bruce's eyes widened.

'To be make something with the power they couldn't have themselves and control it. Like Avatar!'

Hela frowned.

'Sorry, something unimportant Tony showed to me.'

'Well, you are right. That's how my father survived without intending to in the first place. Elixir was too easy to invade mentally, or in his case, spiritually.'

'Its hard to believe how people will achieve such a thing.'

'Not really people, more like what you called as _aliens_ , with no religion or moral, they believe in power and total control alone. But you don't need to worry, its someone else's problems, and its technically solved -or will be solved- by this person stealing their ultimate weapon and transporting it to where it will be left alone for at least a few million years. Until now.'

'But what are we suppose to do then? Lock Elixir up?'

'No, I will deal with him. Oh right, The Other and Thanos is coming to town.'

'Who?'

'The people that sorta wiped out Jutonheim. They got a bunch of Chitari sholdiers behind his back as well.'

'Why are you telling me this now?'

'I just got a bit distracted!'

Bruce turned and ran.

OOO

Elixir opened his eyes. He felt dizzy and faint, maybe from the hit in his head when he fell?

Then he felt something tight around his neck.

He really panicked. Not the damn collar again!

'Shh. Its fine.' Someone whispered.

His eyes were still blurry, but he could make out a woman wearing black clothes.

'You just need some sleep.' She purred and stroked his forehead. 'And when you wake up, you will need to be ready.'

Drowsiness washed over him.

'Sleep.' The woman commanded, and darkness took over.


	11. Hela's Fury

He _was_ mentally weak. Hela thought as she scanned him over. Other than the big problem, there were only a few minor bruises and scratches, which was definitely good news.

Hela channeled all the extra magic she could muster onto the problem spot. Sure, Elixir got his own healing system kicked in quite well, but its like it's not willing to reach its most potential, as if too lazy to finish the work it started.

Or is it that it wasn't willing to?

Hela had no idea how this being's magic or body or mind or anything worked, but she tried to base everything off normal magic users. It would hurt more to not try anything than at least trying.

When she believed everything was sorted, she unraveled he bandages around his neck, needing to lift his head ever so often to get the bandage out from under him.

Hela smiled, pleased with her healing work. The only thing that showed a fatal wound was there a pale patch of newly grown skin.

She then proceeded to remove all the random Midgardian equipment. She knew the Midgardians were trying their best, but now these wouldn't be needed. After all the stuff were cleared, she lifted Elixir off the bed. He wasn't light, but she wasn't weak either.

A nurse waltzed in most inconveniently, froze to the spot at the sight of Hela, and dropped her tray with a clang.

Hela ignored the nurse and closed her eyes.

 _Top of building._

OOO

Natasha leaned over the railing. Wind brushed through her curls.

It was a lot to swallow in one day.

Clint shot Elixir again. Elixir came from the future and was made to destroy. He had the Teseract in him that wanted to kill Loki and take control of him, so to destroy things easier.

There was a pop behind her and Hela appeared with what seemed to be Elixir in her arms.

'Hela!' Natasha yelped. 'What do you think you are doing?'

'He's mostly healed. I just put him into a sleep.' Hela said as she carefully laid him out on the floor. 'Wait here.'

Then a puff of smoke and she was gone.

Natasha stood, stunned at what just happened.

Then Hela was back, this time with Loki.

'Hela!'

'I know what I am doing.' She laid Loki out of the floor as well. He was dressed in fresh clothes that only made his ashen face look more dead.

'Right. We will not have much time. I could sense Thanos playing with portals right this minute. Tell your friends to prepare and try and gain more time.'

'More time for what?'

'To get Loki out of Elixir.'

'How will that help?'

'The Tesseract's trace is connected with Loki's soul, meaning if I extract him, I may be able to destroy it before it merges back into Loki's body with Loki.'

Natasha tried to keep up with what she said.

'So,' she breathed. 'Is this part that important?'

'Unless you are saying you have anyone that can compare to Thanos.'

'Thor? Hulk?'

'Forget it.' Then Hela knelt down between the two and touched their shoulders.

'Wait! Where are you going?'

'Some clearing with no people.'

'Let me come with you.'

'No, too risky.'

'Thing could go wrong, and Thor would go crazy if his brother's body got taken. He would want updates.'

'Fine, for the sake of my uncle's sanity.' Hela snapped. 'Grab me.'

Natasha barely touched her tingly skin before completely enveloped in smoke.

OOO

Clint was devastated. It wouldn't be long before Fury starts giving him suspension, but that wasn't on his list of things o worry about yet. He worried that no one will ever trust him. Like all his efforts after last year wiped out, and he will have to start all over again.

Bruce ran into the room, words bursting out of him as he waved his arms around in a panic.

Tony only frowned.

'Bruce, wouldn't it be better if you tell Fury first?'

The doctor realized his mistake and took off out of the room.

Then Clint's intercom crackled.

'Clint?'

'Nat? Where are you?' He raised his hand to his ear.

'Right Clint, I just left the facility, to, um, nevermind, its not important, but Thanos will be attacking.'

'Just heard that from Bruce.'

'Oh, right-' It sounded like there a lot of noise. 'And I am with Hela, and Hela has Loki and Elixir.'

'What?!'

'I don't know Clint, but its sounds like she knows what she is doing. Something about returning Loki to his body-'

'You went by yourself?!'

'Clint, there's no time to argue.' Natasha said sternly. 'Tell Thor what happened. And Fury.'

'Fury probably knew now.'

'Right, see you later, Clint.'

Then the intercom went silent.

'What happened?' Tony asked.

'Nat went with Hela who had Loki and Elixir. She's going to sort things out.'

'What exactly is happening?' Thor's deep voice came from the door.

Clint groaned.

OOO

'This may be the last time I see you here.'

Elixir looked up.

'Prince?'

'Stop it.'

'Fine, Loki.'

'Hela picked us up. I suppose the ritual to happen soon, but before that, I would like to make some things clear.'

Elixir stiffened. He didn't like Loki's tone.

'First of all, I would like to thank you for being the best companion to me for last year.'

'You are my best companion was well!'

'Don't interrupt me. Now, secondly, as I said just then, if the ritual turned out badly-'

'It could?'

'Yes, it's a possibility now I am in you for too long. And thirdly-'

'So you are saying, you might die?'

'If I do, it doesn't really matter.'

'It does!' Elixir choked. 'It does matter to me! If you are dead, even after the Thanos is defeated, even if that means I could be free, what is it without you?'

'You lived well enough before you met me.'

'Barely!'

'Elixir! Don't you dare blame yourself for my death! It will happen sooner or later anyway with a wretched creature like me.'

'Wretched? Are you mad?'

'Don't you-'

'Yes, I am calling you stupid!' Elixir shouted. 'You are the biggest idiot in the whole World Tree but you are my first friend. Don't be my last…'

Loki just chuckled softly.

'Elixir, you have grown.'

'What do you mean? I haven't changed a bit since I was born.'

'You didn't hear the blue ones conversation with the agent then?' Loki indicated the monstrous blue aurora in the corner, biding its time to lash out. It had become stronger than before.

'What conversation?'

'You wouldn't remember. But it might be the best.'

'Its not. Of course I would want to know who I am.'

'After you grow more mature.'

'But-'

'Right, thirdly, don't allow Thor to smash everything if the second point was true. He would embarrass my mother.'

'Loki-'

'And finally, Elixir.' Loki took a ragged breath. The piteously weak green aurora surrounding him faltered even more. 'I am sorry, sorry for leaving you alone and leaving you to a big mess you will have to deal with yourself. Sorry for being so, temporary and weak. But promise me one thing. Promise me that if I did die, you will move on without me.'

'I-'

'And anyway, Hela wouldn't mind you visiting.'

'Stop-'

'Do you promise me, Elixir?'

Elixir opened his mouth once more, but no words came out.

'Ok then.' Loki shrugged. 'I take it as a yes.'

'Hey!'

'Good bye. Elixir.'

Then things went blank.

OOO

Hela had no experience whatsoever in this. But she did research about it. It had about a gazillion ways of going wrong.

Which was a pretty sad note.

She looked around. There's only dirt, rocks, and more dirt for all her normal eyes could reach.

'Natasha, stay back.'

The poor human quickly scrambled back a few meters.

Hela picked up a rock, and started to draw on the dry ground.

She first drew a large circle around Loki and Elixir. Then she added the runes along the outside. Runes were always an important part of any ritual. Its simple: put anything now than might come in connections along with the basic ones.

 _Light. Soul. Power. -_

If she missed one, then every living thing in the radius of ten kilometers could be wiped out.

 _Life. Infinite. Hel. -_

What if it does go wrong?

 _Death. Reverse. Separate. -_

What if _both_ Elixir and Loki died?

 _Break. Heal. Breath. -_

She wouldn't allow it to happen. Not in the all the nine realms.

 _Warmth. Virtue. Mercy. -_

Mercy? The very first thing Hela learnt was mercy is a lie, being tossed into the realm of the dead to rot, where was mercy then?

 _Time. Infinity. Universe. -_

Infinite is a lie as well. Things change. Time comes to an end.

 _Release. Free. Relieve. -_

All the things Loki and Elixir don't have.

 _Bitterness. Lost. Surrender. -_

Even the goddess of death will have to pity them.

 _Hunger. Blood. Lust. -_

The things they turn themselves to.

 _Love. -_

What they are missing.

 _Hope. -_

There's no hope for them, yet-

 _Alive. -_

Is what they will have to be.

Hela snarled and threw the rock away. It flew so far it disappeared in the air. The Midgardian stood frozen as she stared at Hela's work in awe and horror.

She quickly came back to her senses. Yes, she let her emotions carry her away. She can throw tantrums later.

Hela scraped a line down between Loki and Elixir, separating them.

She stood between them, in the middle of he circle, and raised her arms. She could feel the power of the runes humming and vibrating, waiting to be released.

Please let this work. She begged to whoever is higher than the gods.

OOO

The thing Hela drew was the most beautiful thing Natasha had ever seen. The hundreds of detailed pictures surrounded the circle like crawling army ants.

The moment Hela raised her arms, the skies darkened to a deep shade of purple. The runes glowed in all sort of different colours.

 _'_ _Spiritus isti, surge.'_ Hela's voice was maginified a hundred times louder. _'Lux dedi vobis.'_ A mixture of green and blue smoke slithered out of Elixir in the form of snakes. Hela grasped the large blue one. _'_ _Ut nihil vobis!'_ She screamed. The blue snake writhed and dissolved. Hela calmed herself and tunred to the fereish green one. _'_ _Requiesce in pace_ _.'_ She whispered. It towards Loki's body and dissapeared. The ground shook and cracked. A blast of wind scattered the runes, mixing them with the dust until unreadable. Hela fell down to her knees. The skies turned bright once more. OOO So it worked after all. Loki thought. He twitched his long unused joints. He took in deep breathes of fresh air, feeling his chest rising and falling. He could feel the magic boiling inside of him, rejoicing. There's no blue along the green.

He finally tear his eyes open. The blinding light made him blink. He tried to push himself up, only to fall back again, hard.

Blasted body.

He flipped himself onto his stomach and tried to push up instead. After a few more tries, he got on his knees.

 _The stretch of emptiness._

'Go on.' His voice was ragged and weak. 'You may as well do it while Hela and Elixir are out.'

The agent didn't move, her gun still digging into his head.

'What is stopping you, Romanoff?'

'I want answers.'

'As always.'

'Why would two people risk their lives for someone like you?'

'Why don't you ask them youself after you finish me off.'

'I would rather have answers from you.'

'We have things in common, Romanoff.' Loki tried his feet and failed. 'We were abandoned, trapped, forced to do terrible things, misunderstood-'

'You are?'

'Me? I was just a pawn. I expected death after throwing myself of the Bifrost, but no.' He choked. 'My wretched life wouldn't allow a easy and clean ending.'

'So you fell into the hands of Thanos.'

Loki struggled to his feet.

'And he's coming, isn't he?'

'Yes.'

'Just finish me off, and it will be for the better.'

'And face the wrath of Thor?'

Loki laughed.

'I never knew you have a sense of humour.'

'Being with a man called Tony Stark must've had some influencing.'

'Shoot me, Romanoff. I would rather this misery end.'

The agent didn't pull the trigger.

'Just tell Thor I asked for it.'

'He wouldn't believe me.'

'Make it look like a accident.'

'Make it look like I accidentally shot you?'

'Or, if you wouldn't…' Loki raised his hand to his neck.

'Idiot!' Someone screamed.

Both of them froze as Hela whipped towards them like an angry storm. Hela snatched the gun out of Natasha's hand and crushed it with her bare hand. Then with just as much fury she spun around and slapped Loki on the face.

Loki stumbled backwards, stars erupted in front of his eyes.

'Father! The Hel are you thinking?!' Hela thundered.

'Hela!' Loki stammered, a hand still on his cheek. 'I-'

Hela slapped him again, this time knocking him over onto his back.

'If you die!' She hollered. 'What am I suppose to say to uncle and Elixir?!'

Loki simply looked up at her daughter's furious face, stunned. Hela reached down and grabbed him by his shirt, pulling him closer to her burning eyes.

'Don't, you, dare, try, and, kill, yourself, again.' She seethed each word.

Loki gulped and nodded frantically.

'Go on.' She dropped Loki and turned to dumb folded agent. 'Tell you friends it worked and both Loki and Elixir are alive. But if any of them harm Loki or Elixir, they shall be sorry.'

Hela released her clenched hand. The powered remains of the offending gun fell to the ground.


	12. To Battle

Thor was literally bouncing on his feet.

His brother is alive!

'Stop it Thor, you are making the table shake.'

'Sorry.'

'Right, you are saying, this _Lady Hela_ revive Loki.'

'You can put it that way.' Clint muttered.

Thor could see that Fury was trying very hard to keep his temper down and not live up to his name. He was probably happy that Loki _was_ dead.

'Fine then. Hill, go send someone to bring him to the facility so he would stay out of the way, along with Elixir.'

'Nat said that Hela told us not to touch them.'

'Do I look like I care?'

'You should,' Tony raised a finger to state a point. 'We are talking about a goddess of death that can revive people and snap arrows with bare hands.'

'And crush guns. Nat told me she needed a new one immediately.'

'Yeah, and that.'

Fury was indeed getting on his furious side.

'Fine, leave them alone, but if they step in the way, you have my command to get rid of them.'

Thor along with the other Avengers nodded, but none of them intended to actually do so.

'Well then, moving on to plan of attack.'

'You mean defense?' Steve called out, but quickly covered his mouth when Fury eyed him meaningfully.

'Fine, plan of defense-'

'I have one,' Tony interrupted at once. ' _Defend._ '

He then threw his head back and howling with laugh. Everyone groaned, and Steve face palmed.

Thor scratched his chin.

Must have been another Midgardian thing he didn't catch up.

OOO

'Why can't I go alone?'

'Because, father, you will have to take care of Elixir before he wakes up.'

'You can take care of him! This is my own business. What they want is me, not him or you or the others!'

'Father.' Hela warned sternly, her dark eyes glittered. 'You are not handing yourself over.'

'I didn't intend to.' He muttered indignantly, with the flash of lie even so hidden behind his bright green eyes.

Natasha still hadn't gotten over the fact that Loki, the evil god of chaos that they took so long to control last year, was now standing in the middle of the street in a white t-shirt and camouflage pants and being scolded by his daughter.

While Hela and Loki continued to argue back and forth, Natasha took a look at Elixir in Loki's arms, who was dead or sleeping she couldn't tell. The wound was indeed healed.

Some of the pedestrians gradually think something was up. Natasha shot them deadly looks and made them look away.

'Why here?' Natasha asked the gods.

'Simple.' Loki said. 'With the Tesseract is currently in your hands, it wouldn't be possible for them to use it to open portals wherever they wish. They will have to use the natural breaks in the World Tree. And this is the one I fell through, so they definitely knew of.'

'So, there are others?'

'Some might have changed, some might have emerged.' Hela mumbled. 'But if you are asking for ones that will definitely be there, I think there's another one on what you call Beijing-'

'What?'

'And North Pole, Los Angeles.' Hela counted off with her fingers.

'Yellow Stone.' Loki added.

'Wait.' Natasha took the intercom off from her ear and pointed it at Loki and Hela.

'Say your list again.'

OOO

No one stood still for more than five seconds in the entire building. Agents ran around like lunatics and helicopters shot off into the sky from the top. Fury had already made a billion phone calls and emergency conferences. No one seemed to believe a word he said, but no one wanted to take chances.

Chinese agents set up camp near the Great Wall while tourists were evacuated from the national park. Tanks and trucks filled up normal civilian streets and ships cut through icy waves, scaring away seals from icebergs.

'This is not crap you motherfucker!' He shouted through the phone once more at one idiotic officer. 'This is full on war I am talking about! If you don't want to listen get out of the way and get someone with more brains to move his butt over!'

The officer didn't argue or interrupt for the next ten minutes as Fury ranted out all the data and facts and orders.

OOO

'Director is going mad, isn't he?' Hill whispered to Coulson as she stared at Fury dancing around and yelling swear words into the phone.

'I wouldn't look any better if I am in his situation.' Coulson replied lightly as Fury tripped over Steve's cat and tumbled to the floor.

The cat yelped and scampered from the room.

OOO

'What do you mean you will have to send me to Stark Tower? I am missing out on the fun!'

'Whatever you say Peter, my boss said so.' Pepper said briskly as she tried to weave through the traffic. It seemed like the alien invasion news slipped and everyone was heading out in different directions.

Peter sulked. A bus horn blared from behind.

OOO

Elixir felt like he was in a very different place filled with lots of noises. He opened his eyes.

'Loki?'

Loki looked down on him.

'You awake?'

'So it did work?'

'Surprisingly.'

'Then I don't need to do all the stuff you said from two.'

Elixir slipped out of his grip and brushed himself off. He was covered in dust.

'You alright?' Hela asked.

'Light-headed.'

Loki smiled.

'Because there's only you inside.'

'So, the blue one is-'

'Destroyed.' Hela replied.

'What are we waiting for here?'

'To see if the portal opens up and the Chitari comes.'

'We have visitors.' Loki tilted his chin up at a helicopter gliding over the city towards them, very much like the one Elixir saw before.

But the chopper didn't land. A man jumped off and landed in the streets, cracking some of the bricks.

Loki's eyes widened as the man started towards them. Elixir immediately stood in the way.

Thor stopped in front of Elixir. His hammer in his hand.

'Step away from my brother…' He growled.

'Elixir.' Loki tapped him on the shoulder. 'This is not your business.'

Elixir gave Thor a warning look and stepped away.

Thor leapt at Loki and crushed him into a bear hug.

'You are alive!' He squealed and shook Loki around like a doll.

'Thorrr~~~' Loki hissed and flailed around trying to escape his tight grip.

'Uncle, you are suffocating him.' Hela said calmly, secretly pleased with the not-violent reunion.

Thor finally released him. Loki immediately stepped back from arms reach, just in case he would hug him again.

Elixir simply overlooked the scene with a sense of longing and sorrow. Loki should be grateful that he at least had a family, somewhere he could go back at anytime to rest and be happy.

Only Hela seemed to notice this and quietly gave him a pat on his shoulder.

An echoing boom suddenly sounded from the skies.

'Thor?' Natasha gaped upwards.

'Not I.'

'Army.' Loki muttered.

Then the skies seemed to tear open to reveal a part of a dark sky and millions of Chitari soldiers.

'Father, will you be alright?'

'Don't worry about me!'

'Elixir, take him somewhere safe for him to recover a bit of strength first-'

'I am fine!' Loki insisted.

'Then don't get too hard on yourself. Elixir, you keep an eye on him.' Hela snapped her fingers and disappeared. Then something appeared on top of a building close to the wave of scooters and shot out dark jets of fire, disintegrating whole squadrons on contact.

Thor whirled his hammer and flew off into the middle of the army.

'How do you think we should do it then?' Loki asked Elixir, smiling. He snapped his fingers and the Midgardian clothes morphed into the familiar slender green, black, and gold leather and buckles.

'Don't know-'

'How about Dragon?'

Elixir's jaw dropped.

'You said it shouldn't try it again!'

'Well, desperate times calls for desperate measures.'

'What if I loose control?'

'I will personally knock you out.'

'You better.'

Elixir turned and ran out into the middle of the street. He will need more space for this. Cars stopped and people scampered at the sight of aliens coming from the sky.

 _Flames. Warmth. Scales. Fire. Breath. Humongous._

 _Fire. Fire. Fire._

He trailed long gashes across the solid tar with his sharp claws. His wings stretched and scraped the buildings at the sides. The spikes of his tail impaled an abandoned truck and sent it into a block.

 _Oops._

He noticed someone waving at him from below. He lowered his great head and allowed Loki to climb on and rest between his ears.

'To battle!' Loki shouted.

He let the wings fall in its natural rhythms. Up, down, up, down. He rose above the shops and the apartments, and headed straight for a large monstrous Leviathan flying down on the city.

OOO

Loki formed a shield around Elixir's eyes, for Dragon eyes are its only weak spots, or what Midgardians may call 'Achilles' heel'. He shot spell after spell at any lone scooter that dared to challenge him.

 _Fire._ The scooter melted and sent its rider screaming down.

 _Water._ Another got blasted out of the way and crashed into one of his comrades.

 _Mist._ The rider floundered around the white smoke and flew straight into the Dragon's hide, smashing into bits.

 _Jelly._ Turning into a shade of transparent green, the machine obeyed gravity and went splattering down somewhere below.

The Dragon locked combat with the Leviathan, biting and scratching. Loki quickly slipped down his neck onto the joint between his wings for cover as chunks of flesh and ripped metal armor rained down around him.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he could make out Thor smashing down scooters, while Hela remained on the building, burning anything that came close enough. The agent was evacuating the people, sending them down to the subways.

A shriek ran out through the army as their Leviathan was sent crashing downwards into the ruins, and didn't get up again. Low moaning followed as three more of the gigantic monsters glided though the opening in the sky. Thor immediately summoned the lightning and electrocuted them, temporarily blocking the hole.

'Loki!' He shouted. 'Is there anyway of closing this?'

'It's doesn't need a sustainer to open up!'

'But we must fix this!'

'Maybe we can use something to trigger the closing.' Loki muttered to himself and shot down some more. 'From both ways…'

'Loki?' Thor shouted again. 'Do you have a way?'

'Yes!' He yelled back over the roar of the Dragon. 'After we go through, count ten seconds and then fry it!'

'Go through?' Thor was confused for a second, then realization dawned on his face. 'You cannot do this brother! There must be some other way!'

'Elixir,' Loki climbed back up on his head. 'Go through the portal. Don't listen to what Thor says.'

The Dragon turned and shot straight up, its wings bashing unfortunate scooters out of the way.

'Loki!' Thor bellowed from behind, but was cut off when a Leviathan attempted to use him as a chew toy.

The portal was a lot bigger than Loki imagined when they got closer. Through the portal was the permanently dark sky of Jotunheim.

'Don't stop.' Loki whispered in the Dragon's ears again. He sped up and folded its wings to fit through the portal easier.

There was a woosh, and they were not in Midgard anymore.

OOO

'What do you mean Loki and Elixir ran off?'

'Not run off, Tony, more like 'I am going somewhere with a purpose'.'

'Right, Nat. Remind me again what was happening.'

'Like last time.'

'Crystal clear.'

'Tell Goldilocks to stop summoning lightning randomly, he narrowly missed me.'

'I think he lost his intercom.'

'Damn it.'

OOO

Tony veered off to dodge another streak of light. He had no idea why Loki going through the portal on a flying reptile would make Goldilocks so upset.

Oh, not flying reptile. Elixir.

'Hey Tony!' Peter's voice chirped.

'Peter!' He stopped in mid-air in shock. 'I thought I told you to stay at mah house!'

'You can't boss over me.'

'Fine then.' Tony eyed the amount of scooters noticing him and swarming. 'Do we a favor and make one of those really big spider webs you are good at making.

'How big?'

'Like, between two buildings big. And leave a hole somewhere I would fit.'

'What?'

'Just do it!' He shot off the opposite direction of the chasing Chitari.

OOO

Peter frowned and pulled on his mask.

Why such a big spider web?

He started on his work.

OOO

Thor forgot how many seconds passed since he was interrupted by a rude monster, he quickly flew closer to the portal and gathered the storm clouds.

Several of the smarter Chitari noticed this and went after him, but Hela took care of them nicely.

Brother… Thor thought, then raised his hammer.

OOO

'The web is finished Tony!'

'Great, watch out for the catch.'

'Catch?'

Tony saw the web stretched between the two towers. If you don't look closely, you might not even notice it. He then pin-point on the hole in the middle and zoomed off, his unwary chasers at his tail.

He went through the hole and turned to see how his plan went.

Scooters and snarling Chitari collided with the net. And stayed. The Chitari tried to slice apart the threads with their knives, but only got them stuck in there as well.

'Did it miss anything?' Tony asked Peter through the intercom. He saw him waved at him from top of one of the buildings.

'None missed.'

A shatter of noise thundered from the dark clouds. A million trail of light shot straight for the dot in the air, the bounced off towards the portal.

OOO

Loki was actually glad he is Jotun, for ice already formed around the Dragon's scales for its inability to adjust.

'Elixir.' Loki cued him, but he didn't answer and growled.

'Elixir!' He shouted more loudly in his ears.

The Dragon snorted, then white flames crawled up its sides. Loki closed his eyes to avoid them getting blinded by the light. The edgy scales under him morphed into something softer. The warmth of the flames tickled his sides and died away.

'Get off-' Someone gasped from underneath.

Loki opened his eyes and realized he was sitting on top of Elixir, his face buried in the snow.

'Oh, sorry.' He quickly scrambled off and helped Elixir up and dusted him off. 'Are you alright?'

'I am fine.' Elixir jerked himself away. 'How to we close the portal?'

'No, I am closing it, you are going back.'

'What?' Elixir cried out. 'But you can't just be here alone with the Chitari!'

'Shh!' Loki slapped a hand on his mouth and locked his other arm around his neck. He pulled him into the shadow of an ice cliff. A lone Chitari scout arrived a second later to check out the portal. After a few more moments peering down through the hole, he left.

'I did say in the start this is my business.' Loki said quietly into Elixir's ear without taking his hand off his mouth. Elixir struggled, but the taller god got the advantage. 'You will go and not come back for me. You will follow what I said after two.'

Elixir tried to kick him in the shins, but missed.

'You promised.'

Loki dragged him over to the side of the gaping portal in the ground, and flung Elixir down it. He looked up into the skies.

'Mundus Ligno, adiuva me.' He whispered and opened his arms wide. A green aurora surrounded him. He brought his hands together and focused the power.

'Claudite ostium.'

Green light shot out from the tips of his fingers. The light spread like a web, covering the entire opening with a green haze.

Thor. He scowled. Did you forget to count this soon?

OOO

Elixir wouldn't have bothered to scream, since he could just turn into a bird and fly off, but he was screaming because 1) Loki was alone and 2) Thor sent a blast of lightning at him just at the same time he was falling on him.

He quickly turned himself into something small, something small enough to make escape cascades of lightning.

A shock jolted through his body.

When he opened his eyes, he doubted that he was still alive, but he was. Then his hearing came back.

 _Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz~~~~_

How he hated this flimsy form. And the noise! The noise that seemed to go on for eternity and never fade, like some torture.

Elixir looked up and see the portal seal shut in a flash of white and green.

 _Loki._

The black clouds rumbled.

He allowed himself to transform back.

And fall.


	13. Lost

'Is he dead?'

'He's breathing.'

'After getting zapped by lightning and crashing into Tony?'

'I was trying to catch him!'

'You were wearing your suit!'

'So you are saying I should have just left him falling and hope he survives?!'

'Guys!' Natasha pushed Steve and Tony apart before they bite each other's face off. 'He's alive, and that's the most important thing.'

'Without Loki.' Hela whispered her first words since they came from where she sat in the corner of the room. Darkness seemed to be washing off her.

Everyone immediately fell silent. No one knew how to comfort the goddess.

OOO

'Are you too scared to face any questions?'

Elixir didn't stir.

'Stop it.'

He turned over and faced his back towards Peter.

'Look, I am sorry about what happened to Loki. But everyone is worrying about you. You may as well get up.'

Elixir finally gave in and threw the covers off him.

'What's the time?'

'Nine. You slept through the rest of yesterday.'

He brought his legs in and put his chin on his knees.

'Is Thor and Hela angry with me?'

'You? No. Um, actually not sure. Thor was gone since the portal closed. And Hela didn't move from yesterday.'

'Oh. So they are.'

'What actually happened?'

'Loki threw me down the portal because I refused to leave him there alone.'

'Why did he want to be alone?'

'He didn't.'

'I mean, why did he have to throw you down and be alone?'

'To close a natural portal - at least for sometime, depending on the strength of the closure – you will need to close it from both sides.'

How could this be? Peter wondered. Doesn't this only happen in those super sad movies where one of the characters die for others to survive?

'Can I get some fresh air?'

'Are you sure you are fine?'

'I am.'

'Ok… You want to go to the top?'

'Please.'

'Yeah, no problem, why not?'

He helped Elixir get off the bed and steered him out of the medical wing.

OOO

Sam could sense unease washing off everyone. He wasn't exactly sure what happened yesterday. Something about a god running away into a portal and not coming back.

OOO

'JARVIS, turn the noise down a bit.' Bruce groaned.

'Of course, sir.' The British accent came from the walls, and the music died down.

'There has to be some way to get Rudolph back!' Tony cried out suddenly, waving his arms around.

'Tony, stop. If Hela couldn't think of anything, I doubt you could either.'

'What if we use the Tesseract to make a portal?'

'You have the blueprint?'

'Err, no.'

'Then how do you use it?'

'Why not ask Selvik?'

'I doubt he could have done it without Loki'

'Oh, ' Tony leaned back in his chair, rocking back and forth. 'Right.'

Bruce closed his eyes. Surely there is no other way around. If it's as bad as Hela said, he's as good as dead.

 _A bag of cats._

'You can't even be sure if he's still alive, with Thanos and all the Chitari on the other side.'

'Maybe he figured some other way out himself!'

'Tony.' Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose. 'Stop.'

The billionaire finally lost his Stark-face and propped himself on the table. He took his phone out and started typing furiously.

'Who are you texting?'

'SH.'

'What for?'

'I want somewhere to vent, and he never replies'

Just after Tony said that, a beep rang from his phone.

'What?' Bruce scrambled behind him to get a look.

'I found your story intriguing. Tell me it before I shoot John's chair.' Tony read.

'Whose John?'

'His house mate.' Tony muttered as he texted back.

' _So basically one day this guy and another evil god that tried to take over the world last year dropped out of a portal. And the evil god wasn't dead, its just his soul or something went into the other guy, and so just yesterday the goddess of death who is the evil god's daughter got him back into his body and then to close the portal that Chitari soldiers come through the god of evil went to the other side of the portal and closed it, so he was basically stuck on the other side.'_

' _Other side?'_

' _Where Goldilocks calls Jutofine or something.'_

' _Funny, what is this evil god's name?'_

' _Loki.'_

' _Oh.'_

' _YOU MET HIM BEFORE?'_

' _Only once, sometime a few months ago. He appeared on the doorstep and John felt sorry for him and brought him in for about a week before he disappeared agin.'_

' _Wait, you are good at conducting right?'_

' _Deducing.'_

' _Yeah, that.'_

' _I merely observe.'_

' _What do you conduct of him?'_

' _Definitely some signs of depression, and abuse. Sunken eyes, scars that are some self-inflicted and some not, poor nutrition. Some sort of extreme pain in his stomach. Had some sort of sibling he had conflict with, and perhaps with the rest of his family as well. Wide range of vocabulary, especially when it comes to insulting, suggesting he read a lot. He has determination when he wants to do something, always wanting to prove himself, suggesting he grew up being looked down upon. Eyes suspicious but fearful, showing signs of an escapee. Always muttering things to himself, something about going to a cold place through a hole in his room, about a glorious purpose and a staff, suggesting he was a nuisance. In conclusion, he wasn't some sort of person to be with for tea.'_

' _BACK UP BACK UP WAT HOLE IN HIS ROOM?'_

' _He didn't describe anything in detail, but certainly he meant his bedroom.'_

' _GREAT THXXXXXXXXXX!'_

Tony jumped up from his seat and flung his phone into the air.

'Where's Goldilocks?' He yelled.

OOO

Thor got Loki back, only to loose him again.

And this time, even worse. Thanos wasn't the kind of person that believes death is the worst thing that can happen to one.

He swung Mjolnir out into the sea, and after it disappeared out of sight, called it back into his hands.

The people fishing out on the other side of the cliff only stared at the sight, as the hammer went back and forth, back and forth.

Finally one of them had enough, and went over stand behind Thor. Thor pretended not to notice and continued.

'What are you doing?' The man asked asked.

'Nothing.'

'Something sad happened then?'

Thor stopped himself in mid-swing.

'How did you know?'

'I lost someone close to me and I tried to destroy an office. Um, that was a long time ago.'

'Oh?'

'I was really upset then, but people around me started dying off one after the other that-' the man quickly cut himself off. 'Sorry, I started rambling again.'

'No, it's alright.' Thor lowered the hammer to his side and turned around to face the man. He had messy black hair and round glasses.

'So, what happened?' The man crossed his arms.

Thor scratched his head.

'It was take a long time.'

'I don't mind.'

'My brother was told to be dead, then he was revived, then he was lost again.'

'You count that as 'a long time'?'

'I kept it short.'

'You will definitely get him back.'

'He will be back, that I can convince myself.' Thor sat down on a rock, while the other man sat on another opposite. 'But whether he will be welcomed at home, or if he wanted to even go back…'

'He didn't like you or your family, didn't he?'

'He was adopted.'

'If he didn't want to, then maybe leave him be if that makes him happy.'

'Father definitely would not be pleased.'

'True, but if you give him time and space, maybe he would come back one day.'

Thor nodded.

'What is your name?'

'Harry.' Harry stuck his hand out for a shake.

Thor took his hand and, carefully, shook it.

'I shall go back and see if there's anything I can help with to get him back.' Thor said.

Then he took off into the sky.

OOO

Harry 's eyes followed the man flying of into the distance, led by the hammer.

'Harry!' Ginny called out from somewhere behind. 'Who is that?'

'Don't know.'

'Hermoine, your thing was bobbing ages ago.' Ron grumbled.

'Oh!' Hermoine quickly reeled the fishing rod in.

'Accio.' Draco snatched a new lure out of the air as it flew towards him out from the fishing box, careful not to grab it by the hook like last time.

'Potter, wouldn't it be easier if we just accio fish?' He muttered as he strung it.

'But that's not the point of fishing, Malfoy.'

'Then what?'

'Enjoying the moment.' Astoria said and kissed him on the cheek.

'Fine.'

Harry could make out a smile tugging on his lips.

OOO

He was tempted to just fall and end everything. But he knew Peter would be watching, and he wouldn't be pleased.

Elixir glided over the city, staring down grimly at the bustling streets. It wasn't much different from the area around the facility, but he could make out with his hawk eyes some leftover destruction, maybe from the battle last year. A few pigeons tried to be friendly and cooed at him, but he scared them away with a shrill cry.

After a few more minutes, he returned to the balcony on the building. He perched himself on the railing just next to Peter and ruffled out his feathers.

'You said you collect forms right?' Peter asked.

Elixir nodded.

'Then where did you get an eagle form?'

Elixir morphed back into human and leapt down on the floor.

'On Midgard. I was in a forest chased by wolves and I saw it in the sky.'

'What forest?'

'Don't know. It has lots of squirrels and bears. They have strange ponds and water spouts as well.'

'I couldn't relate it to anything…' Peter mumbled. 'Maybe search it later.'

Elixir noticed something in the sky. A black shape rocketing towards them.

'Thor's back.' He sighed and went back into the tower, thinking about how to confront the god.

OOO

'We meet again, Trickster.'

Loki shivered, not out of the cold, but dread.

'Indeed.'

'I see you think your sacrifice will save Midgard, but it is still doomed, along with a few other places you might recognize.'

Thanos snapped his fingers and a projection of a golden city appeared next to them.

'What do you want?' Loki hissed.

Thanos sneered and raked his hand through the projection, scattering it into bits of light.

'A destroyed world. A lovely gift for a goddess of death.'

Loki's eyes widened.

'What?'

'I see you haven't kept up with the news. We were in a quiet relationship.'

Loki didn't get it. Wait, Hela is in love with _this monster_?

'She made a bad move then.' Loki muttered.

'Oh, she enjoyed the other gifts I sent her.'

' _I hate dead flowers! They stink up the whole palace and it took a few liters of perfume to get rid of the stench!'_ Hela's words from one of the letters echoed in Loki's head. Oh, that's what she meant then. Dead flowers from Thanos.

'She will realize soon enough you are the worst.'

Before Loki could react, Thanos flung him into a boulder. He heard some bones crack as he slid down to the floor, gasping.

'With Death now on my side, what do you have?' Thanos snarled as he grabbed him and smashed him into the rock once more. 'Once I have destroyed this wretched world, I would win her love forever!'

Loki choked.

'What?' Thanos brought him up close and seethed.

Then the laughter came up from his lungs, hollow but taunting.

Thanos threw him across the room.

'You dare to mock me, weakling?'

'Her love?' Loki found it hard all of a sudden to catch his breath. 'Do you even know who she is?'

'She's a beautiful maiden left alone in the dark, neglected by the rest of the world.'

'You know nothing else of her?'

'Nothing else concerns me.' Thanos growled.

'Maybe you should listen more to her.' Loki stood up shakily. 'Then maybe you would change your mind about giving the world to her and all your other idiot dreams.'

'Lock him up with the other Jotun scum!' Thanos screeched at a few Chitari soldiers. The aliens quickly brought over chains and cuffs and bounded him up. Then they dragged him into the dark basement and banged the cell door on him.

The basement was crowded with innocent civilians before Laufey was gone. Now, it was again. He could hear a woman weeping through the walls of ice.

Loki stayed on the floor for Odin knows how long, then finally getting the courage to get up and crawl to the wall.

He knew the cells were magically sealed. But there's one way out. The idea was that if enemies did indeed locked the people in the cells, they will be able to escape, yet those who do not know of the secret, will not.

Loki felt around walls, searching for the hidden rune carving that will reveal a hole for him to escape through. But when he did find something, he realized to his horror, it was scratched out with some knife, rendered useless.

Loki felt all his hope dying away. This would be the end then. Thanos will destroy the world and Hela will be left alone with the git.

And being rescued would be just another stupid dream. Surely the others would believe him to be dead by now.

A Chitari soldier thundered past his door and a few seconds later, the weeping suddenly stopped.

Not a crept sounded in the basement.


	14. Looming War

'You sure about this, Man of Iron?'

'It came from reliable sources, Goldilocks, trust me.' Tony smiled and patted his own chest.

Thor didn't look convinced at all.

'Loki must not have used the Bifrost. But it would take a lot of time to even attempt to create a portal without any suitable power source.' Elixir said as he fiddled with his shirt.

'But if he had enough time then it could be possible-' Hela started.

'Loki clearly didn't have the time.' Thor interrupted. 'After I am banished. My father went into the Odin Sleep, leaving him to the throne. Then before I came back he attempted to destroy Jotunheim, and then he dropped himself of the Bifrost, presumed to be dead. Then he came back to Midgard to take over, and we defeated him and I carried him back. As punishment he received isolation in the cells. Then we- Thing got complicated and he was presumed to be killed, and then revealed to us he didn't, and so we come to now…'

'Yeah, clearly he couldn't have time then.' Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose.

'Why can't you use the Bifrost, uncle?' Hela asked.

'Well,' Thor scratched his head apologetically. 'I didn't say, but I heard from Heimdall that the scouts sent a few days ago was sent back, dead.'

Tony gulped.

'So Bifrost is not an option anymore.'

'Let's just try the hole in Loki's room, uncle. Its better to do something than just sitting here-'

'Yeah, that's what I am thinking.' Tony suddenly jumped up.

'Wait, who's going?' Steve asked.

Elixir, Hela, Tony, Peter and Thor all stepped out. And everyone started talking at once.

'Peter, you are not going.'

'Tony, you cannot boss me around!'

'Elixir, you stay here.'

'What?'

'Hela, neither are you going.'

'But you will need help uncle! You cannot do this alone!'

'I will not bring you in danger!'

'Why should I listen to you?'

'You father will not be happy!'

'But if I go I know how to deal with Thanos!'

'I am capable of dealing him myself!'

'Like you dated him?'

'Wat-'

'I don't care what you say either Hela, I do what I want.'

'You are not going Elixir!'

'HELA WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU _DATED_ _THANOS_?'

'Ouch uncle my ears are _bleeding_ -'

'Do you know who he is?'

'Yeah?'

'Does you father know of this?'

'No?'

'Wait, hold on, if this Thanos actually liked you, why would he still hurt your father?'

'He didn't know, that's why.'

'Is he that stupid?'

'Yes, he is.'

'Why do you still date him?'

'Something called B-O-R-E-D.'

'Why don't you tell him so Loki wouldn't get hurt?'

'How?'

'Write an e-mail?'

'Stark, even if I did, do you think its going to be any good? Loki had fallen into his hands and failed him. Even if he knew Loki is my dad, will it stop him from punishing him?'

'Threaten to break up!'

'We did.'

'What-'

'Like, a year ago.'

'But you said-'

'We _dated_. DATED. As in past tense!'

'So the world is a gift to make you love him again.'

'I would rather have the dead flowers…'

'Can't I go?'

'No, Parker.'

'Whatever Stark. I don't listen to you-'

Natasha slammed her hands onto the table.

'All of you stop acting like children!' She screeched.

Everyone froze.

'Elixir, Peter, Tony. You all are staying.'

'Why?' Tony whined.

'You are more useful here than recusing. Besides, the less people, the easier the work.'

'I am still going.' Elixir insisted.

'Elixir, please.' Hela begged. 'I don't want to drag you in. If something bad happens-'

'He would rather have me hurt than you.' Elixir snarled, his eyes suddenly turned to a shade of bright yellow. A snake-like vertical slit dilating like mad.

'Elixir!' Natasha warned him .

He turned and stalked out of the room.

Peter rushed after him.

'Well, that's settled.' Steve turned back to the group. 'Come on then, be quick with it and return as soon as possible.'

OOO

He could hear Peter tailing him.

Annoying Midgardian.

'Ah, what are you?'

A four-legged creature stared up at him with curious eyes.

Elixir lifted him up. It had pointed ears, white fur, blue eyes and a fluffy tail.

'I haven't seen you before.'

'Elixir! Wait!'

Elixir quickly transformed, feeling agile and- short.

Peter ran past without even noticing him.

'Who are you?' The other asked.

'Who are you?'

'The people call me Kitty. I just saw you change, its amazing!'

'Thanks.'

'So who are you?'

'Elixir. I shape-shift.'

'Cool! I haven't had someone to play with for ages. It was quite lonely.'

'Sorry, but I don't really have time to play now. Maybe tomorrow.'

'Great!'

Someone suddenly ran around the corner and tripped over Elixir, sprawling on the floor. Kitty yelped and scampered off.

Elixir licked his hurt paw that the man stepped on. The man scrambled up from the floor and brushed himself off. Then looked down on him. The man had a black eye patch.

'God damn it Rogers!' He cried out. 'You cat is running around again! I told you to keep him from the corridors!'

'Elixir, are you alright?' Kitty cautiously came back to his side.

'Just got stepped on.'

'Rogers!' The eye patch man shouted again. 'When did you get two crappy cats? One is already more than I can handle and you bring in another one?! This is not a zoo! Rogers-'

The man continued to rant and curse as he went off.

'You have to be careful of him.' Kitty whispered and kneaded his shoulder. 'Even though he doesn't own this Stark Tower, he is still sorta in charge.'

'Ok, I will. See you.'

'Bye! Remember to come and play!'

'Elixir!' Peter's cries rang out.

Elixir quickly shifted back into his normal shape and headed for his room.

OOO

Wanda didn't like being sent to Yellow Stone Park along with a bunch of jerk-face agents. Phil coming sort of compensated for it, but still it didn't really make a peasant journey.

When she hoped off the plane all the frustration was washed away. They had landed in a clearing carpeted with long grass next to a river. A herd of brown buffalos somewhere off eyed her suspiciously, but pretended not to notice.

'Why Yellow Stone?' Phil muttered dejectedly as he eyed the surroundings and the buffalos in distaste.

'Don't know, something about a natural random portal…'

A hole appeared in the sky in a flash, dumping something out and then disappeared with another flash.

'Well, that.' Wanda pointed.

Phil led the agents into the forest, leaving Wanda alone with Quinjet and the herd to keep watch.

'Yeah yeah, send me here and leave me out of the fun.' Wanda grumbled and sat down in the long grass, hiding her from view.

Then explosions rocked through the park.

Wanda was stunned by the sudden noise. So were the herd, that snorted in alarm and started galloping in Wanda's direction as a whole.

Great. She thought. Stampede.

She scrambled behind the Quinjet and made herself as tiny as possible. She could feel the ground trembling under the hooves of the animals as they thunder by, some dangerously close.

When Wanda opened her eyes, all the grass around the Quinjet was trampled down into the dirt. Hoof prints littered the area.

'Phil?' She called out to the forest. It sounded like the explosion came from there.

'Coulson!' Wanda ran towards the edge of the forest, fearing something had gone wrong. 'Phil, are you alright?'

Someone grabbed her from behind and threw her to the ground.

'Ah!'

'Shhh!' The agent whispered in her ears.

Wanda strained her ears, trying to make sense of what is happening. Then she heard it. Some sort of machinery whirling.

The agent slowly got off her and dragged Wanda with him into the shadow of a tree. Wanda could make out some other agents as well, hidden in the leaves and shadows.

'What is happening?'

'Shhh!'

'Why don't we have intercom?' Wanda mouthed.

'Because there's no signal.' The agent mouthed back.

'Right.'

A loud drumming noise came from somewhere in front through the tree.

'What's that?'

'Drill.'

'What?'

The noise soon became muffled, but the ground trembled even more. Birds scattered.

'I am going in front.' The agent mouthed. 'Stay here.'

'I am coming with you.'

'But-' The agent was stopped short when he caught the glare in her eyes. 'Fine.'

They crept forwards, slowly and cautiously, as if walking on mines. Past the tree was a crater blasted out with some sort of explosives, littered with dirt and what used to be trees. At the bottom of crater was an tower looking mechanism, which appeared to be made out of black metal and powered by a strange blue glow. It dug down into the ground, expelling rocks and dirt as it sank deeper and deeper into the earth. Chitari soldiers surrounded the area, as if placed to keep things at bay so the thing may do its work.

'Coulson is telling us to fall back.' The agent got her attention and pointed behind them.

Wanda nodded. They need to plan.

They crept carefully back through the forest, the screeching of the drill clawing their eardrums.

OOO

'Elixir?' Peter knocked again, but there's no answer.

'Right Elixir, stop behaving like a kid. Sulking isn't going to get you anywhere.'

There's still nothing from the other side of the door.

'I am coming in!' Peter turned the door nob and peeked inside. Not a living thing was in sight.

'Oh no.' Peter scrambled through the room, checking in the closet and behind doors and under the bed. He checked the window, but it was untouched.

No sight of Elixir.

'Guys,' he tapped on his intercom. 'Elixir is not in his room.'

'He's got to be! The tracking system I set up on his shirt- as a joke Capcicle, seriously- said he's in the room.' Tony's voice crackled through.

'Maybe he changed?'

'Peter, check again-'

'Tony?'

'Shit! I can't find him! I can't find him anywhere in the tower!'

'Hey Tony, I just sent Hela and Thor through.' Steve's voice came by.

'Did you see Elixir with them?'

'No… Why?'

'He must've went with them!' Tony sounded like he's having a total melt down.

OOO

He probably just made the worst choice of his life.

He didn't expect it to work in the first place, didn't expect Hela to put down her guard so much. Ignorable things were easy to break for magic users.

Hela stared up at the golden dome in awe, then suddenly jerked her head in his direction.

 _I am air. I am nothing of any significance. I am boring. I am just a hallucination._

But then Hela smiled, and Elixir realized she wasn't looking at him. She was looking at someone behind him.

'Good day, Heimdall.'

'And so to you, Lady Hela. And so to you, Prince Thor.' The Gate Keeper's passive voice rang out from behind him. Elixir quickly stepped to the side so Heimdall passed him by mere centimeters. 'What brings you here during this dark hour?'

'Dark hour?' Thor asked anxiously.

'Thanos had just declared war upon Asgard. The city is panicking because they had already heard of the fate of Jotunheim.'

Hela grimmanced.

'So this idiot is serious about destroying the world as a gift for me.' She said flatly.

'Did you tell the All Father of Loki yet?' Thor asked.

'No.'

'Good.' Hela breathed a sigh of relief and pulled her black cloak tighter around her. 'We need to get access to Loki's room. Is it alright if we trespass the palace?'

'Of course, my lady.'

'Thank you.' Hela tugged on Thor's cape and the pair set off out of the doors onto the Bifrost.

Elixir slowly started to sneak out after them.

'Young man.' Heimdall's voice rang out once more, making him freeze. 'I shall not stop you, nor shall I tell the King of your presence, but beware…'

Heimdall laid a heavy hand on Elixir's shoulder.

'Your secret will not remain so much longer, and one day you will have to face the truth of your existence.'

Heimdall withdrew his hand, turned, and gazed off into the unknown only he could see.

Elixir stared at the Gate Keeper's back, puzzled at his cryptic words. But he didn't think of them any longer as he ran off down the breath-taking Bifrost to catch up with Hela and Thor.

Asgard was a huge place. He wouldn't want to get lost.

OOO

Heimdall lowered his head and closed his eyes. Flashes of visions tormented him.

He could only wish for the best for the Extinguisher.

The foretold Extinguisher of the light of the Nine Realms, made for a fate he himself now knew nothing of, in a time not his own.

OOO

'JARVIS, you saw anyone leave the tower?'

'Miss Pepper just went for a press conference-'

'You saw anyone go up to the top floor?'

'Yes, sir.'

'Who?'

'Mr Rogers, Mr Odinson and Miss Hela.'

'No one else?'

'Yes, sir.'

'How is this even _possible_?' Tony banged his head on the door, not caring a bit what the others think about him or between his head and the door which will breaks first. Someone left his building without his awesome intelligent computer even knowing.

'You are dealing with magic, Tony. Don't blame yourself.' Steve tried to comfort him.

'But what magic can make someone not seen by cameras? Invisibility?'

'That is possible.' Clint muttered. 'Saw Loki practicing when, you know, that time.'

'Invisibility, like, not to be seen?'

'But it only lasted for 10 seconds at most every time.' Clint continued to mutter. 'Elixir couldn't have ran up to the top in 10 seconds.'

'Teleport?' Steve suggested.

'JARVIS will see him at least on the top of the tower.'

'So he got something that made him invisible for long periods of time.' Tony scratched his chin. 'Fine then, another plan. Assassins, if someone is invisible, how do you know they are there?'

'Feel around and try to bump into the other.' Natasha said unenthusiastically from where she laid on the sofa.

'Smell.' Clint said.

'Or footprints.'

Tony's head shot up.

'JARVIS, remember the pressure sensitive flooring tiles we added to the tower a few months ago?'

'Of course, sir.'

'Can you identify Elixir's tracks?'

'I am analyzing the data now, sir.'

'Pressure sensitive what?' Steve sputtered, baffled at the words.

'Sir,' JARVIS's voice rang out from the ceiling. 'Data showed that Mr Elixir went to his room after leaving. Then he used the elevator to go up to the tower, and disappeared along with Mr Odinson and Miss Hela.'

'So he went with them anyways?' Peter gasped.

'Surely they would know by now.' Bruce said. 'Hela has magic powers as well.'

'But wait, JARVIS, I thought I implemented the pressure sensitive tiles into your system ages ago.'

'You asked specifically whether I 'saw', not whether I can 'sense with pressure sensitive flooring tiles'.'

'Very funny, JARVIS.'

'You are welcome.'

OOO

Great.

He's going in circles.

He's checked every room in the palace yet still no sign of Hela or Thor.

Where could they've gone?

A group of troops ran past him.

It seemed like everything was so tense.

War cries and explosions came from outside the palace walls.

He felt like he could help.

But obviously, that would mean him executed for being on Asgard's grounds.

Meaning, instant death with your head blasted off, meaning, magical healing wouldn't work that way, meaning, die.

Then he saw the king. The All Father rushing away through the big doors. His majestic staff banging on the floor in the ghastly rhythmic beat. His gold eye patch glittering angrily in the light of the sun.

And beyond the city walls, were the masses of black, sliver and red. The air swarming with scooters, arrows and blasts of energy. Families screaming.

Before Elixir could fully understand what happened, he was flying over the city. His tail cracked in the wind and his wings bellowed the smoke away.

Both Asgardians and Chitari retreated, but he was only aiming for one.

The Chitari scrambled like ants as he blasted fire at them. The Asgardians pressed onward, shouting and cheering, now knowing that the dragon was on their side.

Elixir quickly overtook the Chitari and landed squarely on the Bifrost, cutting them off.

The Chitari army skidded to a halt in a panic so to avoid his burning breath. And before they could utter a squeak, the entire army was swallowed by their golden pursuers.

He quickly turned his head away from the chaos, not daring to try his dragon nature with fresh blood.


	15. Mirror Magic

'Hela, why did you court Thanos?'

'I said, bored.'

'Why _Thanos_?'

Hela didn't answer, but instead indicated the bookshelf next to the window.

Thor yanked on the heavy furniture, making some of the books tumble to the ground, bellowing dust. It swung open to reveal a thin corridor that only a slender person like Loki or Hela or Elixir (or in other words, anyone whose not Thor's size) might've passed through with ease.

'Wait,' Hela raised a hand and stopped her uncle from charging forwards. 'I need to check for traps.'

Hela let a slither of magic leave her hand and travel down the dark tunnel, but nothing jumped out.

'All clear. I go in first.'

Hela didn't have any problems getting through once she changed her usual gown into a simple black shirt and trousers magically, but Thor was much more of a nuisance. Even if he went down sideways, parts of his armor would get caught in the wall and make an irritating scratching noise.

'You need to go on a diet.' Hela grumbled as she waited in the room at the end of the pathway and watched her uncle struggle with some glee.

Thor finally squeezed through.

'Is this-' He gawked at the sight.

It was a spacious room, decorated green and white. A tree grew from the middle of the room up around the ceiling, its branches intertwining, its leaves lit up the room with a soft green glow. A large mirror covered one wall while bookshelves lined the opposite side. Directly in front is a simply wooden desk and chair, with a bottle of ink and quill, and a piece of parchment, worn through time.

At a closer look, the parchment was actually a letter. An unfinished letter.

'Dear mother,' Hela read aloud. 'My most apologies. But I wish for explanations. I feel like I do not belong here. The others had golden hair and strongly built bodies, making me the exact opposite. My friends also pointed out I looked nothing similar to you. I am different. I like the cold and dark better. I prefer green than red. I despise the warlike features of the others, while they jeer at me for practicing magic and read, like a girl. I remember when I was small you told me it was just because they are jealous, but it seemed to me now magic is only a trick to the mind, and nothing practical. Is there something wrong with me you couldn't tell me? Is it because I am just born different, or…'

'Or what?' Thor tired to look over Hela's shoulder to get a closer look.

'That's it. Its not finished.'

'Let me have a look-'

'Uncle!'

Thor had grabbed the parchment with too much force, crumbling it to fine dust.

'Oh, sorry.'

Hela face palmed and fixed the letter back together.

'There must be something here Loki used as a portal that teleported him to places. Don't touch anything though, uncle. We do not need any more accidents.'

But Thor was already inspecting miniature animal figures on a shelf, poking at a gold unicorn.

Hela sighed and started feeling the walls for any more secret passages, but she went a full circle and found nothing.

'Put that down uncle!' She cried out when she saw Thor pick up a delicate looking round-bottom flask.

'But it's empty!'

'Put, it, down!' She hissed each word slowly.

Thor dropped it back on the table a little bit too quickly, making it roll across the surface and knock another bottle onto the floor with a crack.

'Uncle!' Hela rushed over and pushed Thor away from the table, in case the bottle contained something explosive or toxic. A sweet scent wafted past her, smelling of roses, cinnamon, ink, and honey all at once. Nothing exploded.

'What is that?'

Hela crouched down next to the dark liquid spilt on the floor. It didn't look like anything she ever saw before. Maybe a rare potion. She magically fixed the bottle.

A brown label on the side of the bottle read: Mirror.

Of course.

She's being _so_ stupid.

'Uncle, step back.'

Thor scrambled a good few meters away.

Hela raised her hand. The liquid rose slowly off the ground. She gathered it up into a ball in the air.

'What are you doing?' Thor asked.

'Watch.'

Hela swung her arms and the ball smashed into the mirror. But instead of dripping down, the blackness spread across like ink in water.

'Show me Jotunheim.' Hela ordered.

Nothing changed.

'Show, me, Jotunheim.' She repeated.

The mirror finally seemed to understand and the darkness faded. Icy wind gusted through, brushing a lock of Hela's hair into her eyes. Frost danced across the walls and floor. The light from the tree dimmed and turned blue.

'How-' Thor gasped.

'Mirror magic.' Hela stepped closer and reached her hand out carefully, but it passed through like reaching out of a normal window. The freezing air on the other side immediately made her hand numb. 'An extremely rare practice.'

Beyond the golden frame was the dark cold world of the Ice Giants.

OOO

The Bifrost was soaked in blood and littered with armor and flesh, making Elixir feel sick.

The Asgardians stayed a good few arm lengths (dragon arm lengths) away. They stared up at him with awe and fear. Then the crowd suddenly parted and kneeled. The king cut through, his staff knocking against the ground.

He stopped directly beneath him. His one eye glaring with what seemed to be disgust, making Elixir take a timid step back.

Odin swung his staff. Golden chains of light shot towards Elixir, binding him. Elixir growled and lashed his tail out. The chains started to burn into him. Pain and numbness attacking him all at once, forcing him to change. He was temporarily blinded, and when he reopened his eyes, the All Father loomed over him.

'You.' The All Father breathed, as if that summed up everything about Elixir.

Elixir hissed as the chain continued to tighten around him, cutting into his skin.

'Foul creature, you dare to trespass Asgard when you are told not to!' Odin's voice boomed across the bridge. Some of the soldiers covered their ears.

He tried to retort, but his voice came out strangled.

'What.'

The chain around his neck loosened just a bit, but it's enough.

'To Hel monster…' Elixir growled.

OOO

A plan was made. Even though they were still unsure what the machine is actually for, it's up to no good. Wanda would distract the Chitari and take them further away while the agents disable the machine.

Distraction was a total understatement of what Scarlet Witch can do, or more like an insult. She could totally do these two herself.

But orders are orders.

Slithers of red slipped out of her hands and headed for the Chitari. And then she saw alien things.

 _Cosmos, ships, rocks floating, Chitari staff, Thanos, Jotunheim, blood, Midgard -_

Of course! She could figure out what they were planning.

 _Lava, explosion, death, ash, death, dark, death, cold, death, victory-_

The already overdue super volcano thingy. For once, Wanda's glad she actually remembered something from Bruce and Tony's blablings.

The lava pool under Yellow Stone, enough to make the entire United States go up in flames and throw tons of ashes into the air, blocking out sunlight from the whole planet. If the drill is long enough, t would only be a matter of time before the drill is too much for the pressure of the pool-

'What's taking so long?' The agent nudged her and whispered.

Wanda slapped him to shut him up and closed her eyes.

 _Hmm, the forest on the other side seemed more interesting, doesn't it?_

The Chitari soldiers lowered their guns as one and together disappeared through the trees on the opposite.

'Go, go!' Coulson cued the agents. They slipped down the crater and started working on disabling the drill.

Wanda stayed behind in the trees, still distracting the Chitari.

 _Oh, look, butterfly. Wait, bear. No, squirrel. Nuts. Leaves. Air. Oxygen-_

'This is no use!' One of the agents cried out. 'The metal is unbreakable!'

'There must be someway of disabling.' Coulson encouraged.

There were more zaps of lasers and screwdrivers. Hardly a scratch was made.

'Guys, back off.' Wanda muttered as she rolled her eyes. In the end, she would still have to do everything.

All the agents immediately retreated.

The ground suddenly rumbled, like a muffled roar.

Wanda had to temporarily release her grip on the Chitari's minds and tore the machine open with a wave of red to reveal some mechanism. She then grabbed what seemed to be the heart of the machine and tore it out. The whirling and rumbling stopped.

The agents cheered, but the victory was too temporary.

Flashes of light rained down on them, flinging dirt into the air. Some of the agents flew through the air, dead before they touched the ground. Wanda screamed and pushed the Chitari back into the trees with a wave.

'Go!' She shouted at the dumb folded agents, who quickly scrambled out of the crater and past her to the Quinjet.

Wanda made a shield to block the energy blasts and she too retreated through the forest. Something black came flying towards her, and exploded into light.

'Flash grenade!' Someone yelled.

Wanda tried to shield her eyes from the blinding light, only to fall onto her back.

'Wanda!' Coulson shouted.

She got back on her feet and, not bothering to make a shield anymore, fled for the Quinjet.

But the Chitari will destroy it if they reach close enough-

Wanda sent some energy towards the staring buffalo herd nearby.

 _Mow down the aliens! They are taking over your land!_

The herd snorted with anger and, as one, charged towards them, pounding on the ground. Wanda quickly hit the ground and curled up into a ball, praying not to get stomped as hooves pounded and kicked around her.

When the herd past, Wanda looked up to see the squadron of Chitari flattened into the ground, with limbs sticking out.

'Ew.' She muttered.

'Wanda!' Coulson shouted again and he rushed towards her. 'Are you alright?'

'I think I am getting sick.'

'So do I.' Coulson wrinkled his nose at the carnage. 'Let's go collect the others.'

OOO

Well, Elixir expected things to go a lot worse than being thrown into a bright, spacious cell.

Though, the hairy caveman opposite was really putting him off as it repeatedly forgot about the glass and smashed again and again, the rhythmic thumping echoing through the hall, making the other prisoners also desperately trying to stay sane.

Elixir sighed and rubbed the places where bruises had formed because of the chain, now thankfully gone. He expected to be executed on the spot.

Why keep him alive?

Footsteps came by. Three men and a woman stopped in front of his cell. For a long moment, they stared at each other.

'Of what realm are you from?' The woman asked sharply.

'Nowhere.'

'Then why would the King keep you here?'

'Now now Sif.' Said the blond one. 'Asking questions like this is not going to make any more sense.'

'You be quiet Fandral. I am the one doing the interrogation.'

'Fandral is right.' said the one with black hair and a passive expression. 'We should start by introducing ourselves.'

'I am hungry.' muttered the one with a large beard as he swung his axe around.

None of his other friends paid him attention.

'Fine then.' The woman huffed. 'I am Sif of Asgard, and these are the warrior three, Fandral,' She pointed at the blond one. 'Volstagg,' She pointed at the hungry one. 'And Hogun.' She pointed at the last one. 'We are friends of Thor.'

'So you know Loki then?' Elixir asked.

Sif stiffened, as if unable to come up with something to say, but Fandral saved her.

'So how did you know him?'

'Met him a few months ago.'

The group looked puzzled.

'He's dead.' Hogun said in a deapan voice.

So these people don't know then. Elixir thought. Should I tell them?

'Maybe you met another person called Loki.' Fandral said cheerily. 'What's he like?'

The others seemed to catch on with something and nodded encouragingly.

'Well,' Elixir started, unaware what was actually happening. 'He uses magic, and potions and stuff. He likes the colour green. He liked using spears and knives…'

Some of their expressions started to falter. Only Fandral continued to smile and nod.

'Where's he from?' He asked.

'I met him in Jotunheim.'

Sif's face turned into a scowl.

'Impossible! Loki was killed in the land of the Dark Elves.'

'Well, believe it or not, he survived.' Elixir said indignantly. 'And now he's back in Jotunheim.'

'Isn't that place taken over by Thanos?' Hogun raised an eyebrow.

'That's why Hela and Thor came to see if there's any other way to go to Jotunheim other than the Bifrost. They are rescuing-'

'Thor is here?' Volstagg cried out.

'Well, if the hole in the wall is true than maybe they are now in Jotunheim-'

'Come on, we need to find Thor.' Sif beckoned to the trio.

'But wait Sif,' Fandral grabbed her arm. 'If Thor didn't want any of us to know, there must be a reason.'

'Whose this Hela?' Hogun asked.

'Why? You don't know Lady Hela?'

'No.' the group all shook their head.

'Goddess of the Death.'

A few of their mouths dropped.

'What does a Goddess of Death have to do with Loki?' Sif snapped.

'You guys really don't keep up, do you?' Elixir crossed his arms and rolled his eyes.

'Don't you mock us!' Volstagg shouted.

'She's Loki's daughter.'

Volstagg dropped his axe in shock. A poor stone tile cracked in half.

'What?'

'Right, anymore stupid questions?' Elixir muttered. 'I would rather savour my last hours in peace.'

'Last?'

'What do you expect some _thing_ like me to be treated? Welcomed? Celebrated? They will have my head severed if it keeps me dead.'

'Guards!' Fandral suddenly cried out, making his companions stare at him with most horror and confusion. 'Release this prisoner! It is under the order of the King!'

'It is?' Volstagg blinked.

'No, but it always works.' Fandral whispered.

The cavemen behind them crashed into the glass one last time, spun around in a dizzy circle and fell flat on its face.

OOO

Sif knew this _child_ is playing with them. Loki couldn't be alive. Thor said Loki died in his arms.

But what if he lied?

Why would he lie?

OOO

Thor sneezed.

'Are you alright uncle?'

'I am fine. But-' He eyed Hela's thin shirt and trousers suspiciously. 'Aren't you cold?'

'No,' Hela answered cryptically, turned and continued to trudge through the snow in the direction of the palace. 'Sometimes the realm of the Dead is colder.'


	16. Jutonwhy

Everyone in the city was at the feast, celebrating the victory against the Chitari army.

Which, technically, they couldn't have won if Elixir hadn't kindly stepped in and helped them ungrateful bunch of savage- (you get the idea).

Even though being escorted through the palace wasn't the worst thing Elixir expected, he would rather be in chains than the _#* & collar around his neck. _When he was released, the guards insisted that they were ordered to keep the collar on him whenever he should leave his cell. It kept his power (and breathing apparently) under restraints. The warrior three eyed the thing in disapproval, but alas, they couldn't trust Elixir completely and didn't say anything in protest. Elixir couldn't blame them.

Fandral knocked on Loki's door, once, twice. And when there was no reply, he pushed the door open.

The bedroom was empty, but a bookshelf was definitely out of place, and a corridor led out next to it through the wall. The group closed the door behind them and filed down the tunnel. Elixir suddenly felt a wave of chilly air and familiarity overcome him. The room was carpeted with white. On one side of the freezing room was a curious gold frame with the scene of a frozen landscape and a dark sky.

Jotunheim.

'Thor was definitely here.' Sif said as she straightened some of the toy figures on the shelf. 'Loki would never put his things like this.'

'They went through this frame thingy!' Fandral was leaning through the gold frame, his voice partially lost in the wind. 'The footprints are still fresh!'

'Shouldn't we get help?' Volstagg shivered.

'No, it might make things worse.' Hugon said and, with great caution, stepped over the frame, lost his balance, toppled over and fell into the snow.

Elixir stepped forward as well, but Sif blocked him.

'What makes you think you are also coming?' Her eyes narrowed.

'You expect me to _wait_ here?' Elixir growled.

'You will only drag us behind.'

'You weren't on the bridge, were you? If it wasn't for this wretched-' Elixir clawed exasperatedly at the collar. 'Get it off for me.'

'We won't remove it until I am sure you are on my side.'

'How do I prove it then?' Elixir challenged

'If anyone on my side is harmed under your arms,' Sif unsheathed a dagger and lifted Elixir's chin up with its point. 'I will not let you go easily.'

'Deal.'

Sif trailed the dagger down his throat and to the keyhole in the collar. With a flick, Elixir was released. The numb feeling in his body instantly vanished.

'Come on!' Volstagg shouted from where he stood on a hill on the other side. 'We should have haste and hurry!'

OOO

Clint stared at the opposite wall of the air duct. With Thor, Hela, Elixir and Chitari gone from the face of Earth, there was nothing the group could do but wait in Stark Tower. Some of them such as Peter and Tony were so bored they started dealing with drug busts and other stuff (or, things-that-are-just-not-their-business). Batman, Green Arrow, Flash, police and the like sent in mountains of complaints. And it wasn't once or twice, but five times already that Joker sent a pie bomb with a hate note attached to their doorstep.

He wondered what Elixir was planning. Did he follow Hela and Thor, or did he choose otherwise? Clint had never met another figure that might level in complexity with Natasha (and Steve's cat, but he would never admit it to anyone). He hated it when people are unpredictable. Unpredictable people do unpredictable things.

The transmitters sent a static noise through once more. Irritated, Clint shut it off.

Tony was probably drunk again.

OOO

Natasha strolled through the streets pondering on the recent events when suddenly someone dragged her into a dark alley and she went blind. She flailed around trying to get a feel what was actually happening, but a second later she was bound and trapped in a closed space. She pressed her intercom against the floor and whispered:

'Anyone on? I suspect I am being kidnapped.'

She waited, but no one answered.

'Guys?'

OOO

'Can you feel the love tonight~~~' Tony sang very drunkenly, tossing his earpiece into the toilet.

OOO

'Bruce, do you have another one of those intercoms? I think I lost mine somewhere.'

'Ask Tony.'

'He's currently intoxicated.'

'Then I guess you will just have to wait with me, Steve. I lost mine somewhere, too.'

OOO

Peter just got water into his eyes from his wet hair. He tried to grope his way back to the bathroom to get a towel but instead crashed into the open door with a loud bang. With his head spinning, he crashed onto the bed and decided to stay there.

OOO

Kitty loved to play 'Steal the Shinny Things', especially the ones the humans put in their ears. They are small, easy to take and make funny noises at random intervals. He kicked the last one under the fridge and quickly left the kitchen.

Maybe he would get to show Elixir one day his collection.

OOO

Natasha eventually gave up and silently prayed it was just a bunch of good-for-nothing idiots who would later hope like hell they never did this to her.

OOO

Thor never really had a good look at the civilian life at Jotunheim. But now, gazing at the stretch of still ruins that led up to the palace, it was hard to imagine everything prosperous and wonderful as Loki had once described in his letters.

Hela didn't look like she's in a hurry. She wandered around place to place and stared at what used to a city, now an abandoned battlefield. Thor simply followed like an obedient puppy, and was polite enough to not question her curious behavior.

OOO

Hela saw many deaths. Too many, and very recent. The scenes replayed in front of her eyes like memories, except she had never seen anything so horrible before. The thousands of Jotun warriors mowed down mercilessly by the Chitari fires. Entire families trying to run from the battle, only to be surrounded and exterminated like pests. The thick smell of blood in the air made her sick.

The massacres of millions of lives as tribute to her by a stupid Titan.

She wanted to walk away from the scenes, to flee from the horrors, but she knew she would have to keep on heading in the palace's direction. Loki still needs help.

Why did Loki have to fall in Thanos' hands? Why did she never have a choice?

And why did Loki have to fall in Thanos' hands _again_?

If Thanos never threatened her with Loki's life, maybe she would remain as the dignified Queen of the Dead, and not forced to _'be nice'._

 _'Be nice'_? More like _'I will try my best to tolerate your existence and not to feed you to Ceberus'._

To Hela's relief, as they approached the palace, the death scenes gradually faded.

'Hela, do you have a plan?'

She jerked around and suddenly remembered that her uncle exists.

'No.'

'I suppose,' Thor did not have his hammer in his hand, which Hela took as a good thing. 'We should split up and find Loki. The palace is not an fast place to navigate.'

Hela nodded. That sounded better that zapping the palace in half and killing everyone and then digging Loki from the rubble-

'Yes, of course.' She quickly said before Thor changes his mind. 'Shall I search the top floors and you search the bottom?'

Thor nodded.

'And watch out for illusions and traps. Thanos is bound to place these around the palace.' Hela reminded him. He didn't look (or behave, yet) as pig-headed as Loki described, but she couldn't take chances.

'I will be careful.' He nodded.

They reached the looming ice doors. Elegant designs were engraved on its surface, but now they were dotted with gashes, holes, and broken protection rune. Red droplets stained the ice. Everything could have looked perfectly normal if it weren't for those.

Hela gave them a push, and the doors swung open silently up to an empty hall. The two waited for something to jump out at them, but nothing did. What if it's a trap? Hela thought frantically. But Thor strolled inside, and Hela had no choice but to follow.

The doors swung closed behind them.

OOO

'Stop!'

Elixir sighed and slowed to a halt. The others struggled through the storm like fish on land, while he was like a fish returned to the water, happy, 'free', familiar with his surroundings. This is the place closest to what he considered 'home'… At least after he was freed from his slavery as a collectible pet.

'If we are this slow we would never reach the palace.' He grumbled.

'You had it easy without armour.' Sif seethed. True, some Asgardian armour were made to be light, but it weighs you down more that t-shirt and jeans.

'Even without your armour, I doubt you will be able to move any faster.' Elixir crossed his arms.

'I am hungry.' Volstagg grumbled.

'Save your breath.' Hogun breathed.

Fandral caught up with him.

'How much longer is the journey?'

'Not far. I can see the palace already.'

'You can?' Fandral squinted through the showers of snowflakes.

'I can. You can't.'

'How can we be sure you are not leading us into a trap?' Sif said suddenly. The others also stopped to consider.

'Why will I?' Elixir frowned.

'Why won't you?'

The calm snowfall suddenly turned into a slamming ice storm, like someone turned the dial from 'beautiful Christmas night' to '100% Artic blizzard'. Shards of ice felt like needles on the skin. Elixir knew they couldn't continue anymore until the storm settles.

And he knew the exact place to go for a rest.

'We will wait until the storm stops.' He shouted at Fandral, who was only an arm's reach away, but still looked at him in confusion.

Elixir sighed, pulled on his arm, and pointed in another direction, different from the one they were heading just then. He put his arms over his head to represent a roof.

Fandral seemed to understand and tugged on his friends. Sif looked skeptical at Elixir's sudden change of mind, and tried to protest, but her voice was lost in the roaring wind.

They turned and pressed on in the direction of the Hunting House.

OOO

Light made her eyes water.

Then came the alien chit-chat.

Natasha was startled to find herself in a corner of what seemed to be the interior of a spaceship. Chitari soldiers walked around talking or showing off weapons, not showing her a bit of attention.

She attempted to crawl away, but a low hiss from behind stopped her.

'There's nowhere for you to go.' Came the whispery voice.

Natasha whirled around and came face to face with a hideous hooded figure. She gasped out loud and scrambled back.

The man chuckled softly.

'Why am I here?' Natasha demanded. The Chitari nearby gathered.

'You are held ransom.' The man said, as if it was obvious.

'For what?'

'Nothing special. It is definitely what you humans don't need, but it seems like humans are stubborn, and we are only giving a gentle, push.'

'For what?' Natasha repeated.

'You will see.' The man turned and raised his weathered hand. A hologram clicked to life, and on there were the horrified faces of Steve, Tony, Peter, and Clint. Vision walked absent mindedly across in the background.

'You see, I had not lied.' The hooded man pulled Natasha up to her feet and put his arm around her. Natasha felt sick in the stomach. 'Your dear comrade is indeed in my hands.'

On the screen Clint shouted out something, but there was no sound. The man sneered.

'Her life, or the Tesseract _and_ the Chitari Scepter!' He ordered. 'You have a week to decide. Good day.'

The hologram froze when Clint lunged at them, and then vanished.

OOO

Elixir entered the den last, and conjured up a wall of ice behind him to block the storm out.

'I thought I went deaf!' Volstagg shuddered and leaned his axe against a wall.

'What is this place?' Hogun asked.

'The Hunting House. Or Hunting Cave, whatever you call it. It's where Loki and I stayed most often.'

'There is actually wildlife to hunt for here in this bleak ice land?' Sif asked as she cautiously stroked a trophy hanging on the wall.

'Yes. As we always bring our prey here to clean. Well, only us. That is a pair of ice elk's antlers we hung up last time-' Elixir stopped himself. The memory wasn't exactly pretty.

The others didn't notice and continued to admire the display with great interest. Elixir made himself work on starting a fire in the fire pit. He lit his fingers up and touched the enchanted block of stone. It burst into flames so suddenly that the others yelped and whirled around. Their shocked faces lit up in an orange glow. Bizarre shadows trailed the walls. The muffled growl of the storm outside the cave subsided even more. The trophies on the walls looked menacing and alive.

Elixir sat down in front of the pit on the hard ground, and after hesitating, the others followed his example.

'The storm will probably go on until tomorrow morning, so we should rest for tonight.' Elixir said.

'I will keep watch first.' Sif said. 'All of you rest.'

Elixir pulled out some furs and blankets from a storage chest. Everyone made their beds and lay down. He wrapped himself tight in his own hunting cloak that Loki made. It was no ordinary cloak, but one that can protect the wearer in their environment to a certain degree, using a series of complicated enchantments.

He listened out for the storm outside, the fire crackling, and the snoring from the others. Loki was working on achieving full invisibility with enchantments alone before #%^ went down. When Elixir asked him the purpose of it, since magic folk like them do not need them, but Loki only smiled secretively and buried his nose back in the rolls of parchment.

He was just about to close his eyes when Sif shook him awake. One single thought came into his mind.

 _Liar._

OOO

'What-' He started, but Sif quickly shushed him and pulled him away from the others and closer to the entrance. Coldness radiated off the ice wall, making her face, hands, and feet numb.

'When we arrive at the palace, you will stay outside and be the lookout.'

'Why?'

'Because you have better eyes than us.'

'Or is it you don't want me to get Chitari and Jotuns on you?'

Sif looked blank at the remark, making Elixir laugh, and then in turn making Sif punch him in the stomach.

'Ah!'

'Shh!'

'I was just kidding! But that was what you were suspecting, wasn't it?'

'You read minds?'

'Yes?'

'What else can you do?'

'Um, a bit of magic, I guess.' He answered with a shrug.

She should have known from his dragon freak show and the collar, but the thought didn't register completely. Sif took one whole step away from him. She tasted enough from Loki to know what magic wielders are capable of.

'You have no reason to worry about me.' Elixir crossed his arms. 'I despise the Chitari and Thanos as much as you do.'

'And the Ice Giants?'

'They are allies, not possible enemies.'

'Why should I trust you when you are a possible enemy?'

'Well I am not! If I do anything wrong you will slay me won't you?'

Sif had forgotten about the promise. She didn't plan on holding it in the first place.

'I suppose.'

'Then what's to worry? I just want to help Loki, nothing else. I hold no ill intent.'

'Loki isn't exactly one to be noble.'

'No, he's not, but he does things for a reason.'

'So isn't he still to blame?'

'For what… ah.'

'I won't easily forget what he has done, and neither will Asgard.'

Elixir took some time contemplating on it before he opened his mouth again.

'But maybe that is needed is not forget…' His eyes seemed to glow. Sif blinked, and the glow was gone. 'It's forgiveness-'

Elixir froze.

She froze, too.

But it was already too late.

The ice wall was smashed apart.

Ahhhh how long has it been? Ages! This chapter has actually been written a long while ago, along with several others, but I just didn't have the heart to continue. But IM BACK. THANK YOU SO MUCH TO THOSE WHO HAVE SHOWN YOUR SUPPORT SO FAR. YOUR LOVE IS MUCH APPRECIATED. w IM STILL NOT SURE HOW OFTEN I WILL UPDATE BUT I GUESS IT DEPENDS ON WHEN I WANT TO PROCRASTINATE THE MOST. Anyway Kitty has something really important to say:

Kitty: I like shiny things.

Me: …That's it?

Kitty: What else do you want me to say?

Tony: Gimme ma intercoms back you hell-spawn little-

Kitty: Oh right did we have a disclaimer? HERE'S THE DISCLAIMER! ALL CHARACTERS AND STUFF BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS AND CREATERS. WE OWE LIKE 0.0001%.

Me: Or pretty much nothing.

Kitty: tru.

Tony: Wait you talk? Cap your cat talks.

Kitty: Meow? Meow? Meow meow?

Tony: Like I said, little #^!%.


	17. Arena: Illusion

'Really.'

But the Titan only smirked.

'Hela and Thor will never come for me.'

'But it seems like you are wrong.'

The Titan waved his hand. Two holograms popped up on either side of him. One showed Thor going down some stairs to the dungeons and the other of Hela going up the spiral staircase of a watchtower.

Loki was first skeptical. What if these were fake? But then Hela stopped and clapped her hands, and Ceberus slinked out of the shadows-

They were falling into a trap, and he's the bait.

'I wonder what your brother did to get the help of Lady Hela. Most of the time, she would want something in return… But no matter, I believe you and your brother need a sibling reunion.' Thanos chuckled. 'It wouldn't be long.'

'Master!' A Chitari soldier rushed into the room and kneeled. 'One of our squadrons found something you might be interested in.'

'What?' Thanos whirled around. The holograms faded away.

'Two Asgardians were found in one of the hunting dens.'

Loki's heart fell. More idiots.

'Who?'

'Lady Sif of Asgard and her companion Elixir.'

Loki's scowl turned into more of a confused expression. Sif was willing to come? Why was Elixir not with Thor and Hela but with her?

'Is there no one else with them?' Thanos asked sharply.

'Yes, master.'

'Bring them up!'

The Chitari scrambled away.

'It seems like your search party is bigger than I imagined. When has the famous Lady Sif been so kind towards her _mortal enemy_?' Thanos grinned. 'And when has she ever gone on a journey without her three friends, but with- I don't even know who it is. The name doesn't ring a bell.'

'Pfft.' Loki snorted. 'Not ring a bell. Surely you have crossed paths with him before.'

'If it's insignificant, it may as well not have.'

'He's ancient, that's for sure.' Loki scowled.

'Ancient? I am certainly intrigued to meet this 'Elixir'. You speak of him like a friend.'

'A friend he is, so if you dare touch him-'

'Oh I won't.' The titan turned around and looked down at him. 'But you will.'

'Whatever you are thinking, your plan will never work.' Loki glared. He wasn't giving a lot away about what would happen, and it definitely wouldn't work in their favour. If only he could get more out of that big mouth-

A loud scuffling came from outside the room. Four soldiers escorted a very calm Sif and a very unsettled Elixir to the Titan, and shoved them down on their knees.

'Why, welcome, Lady Sif, to my humble abode.' Thanos did a mocking bow. The soldiers jeered and jabbed the two with their spears.

'I believe this 'abode' is not yours.' Sif stated with her head held high. Her eyes shifted to Loki, but quickly turned away. Elixir only stared downwards at his reflection in the ice floor.

'Now, it is mine.' Thanos waved a hand. The soldiers took the cue and retreated out. 'So it is to my understanding, you are trespassing my land.'

'To take back what was not yours.'

'The Jotun? Why, I would have thought you couldn't have cared less.'

'I am only doing it for his brother, and it's not only him, but also this land-'

The Titan laughed.

'Where are the rest of your friends? The famous trio? Had they become cowards and let a woman go alone on a treacherous journey?'

'I am not alone, and it's nothing less for me to be a woman.' Sif snorted.

'And what can he do? Breath fire?' The Titan pointed at Elixir and roared again. Loki heard a growl boiling up from him, but Sif silenced him with an elbow in his ribs.

'Guards!'

The soldiers came back and dragged them away.

'I will think I am puzzling you.' The Titan turned back to him. 'But you will see soon enough. My soldiers do need some entertainment over time.'

'What are you planning?'

'Don't worry that you will be left out, you will be a part of it as well.'

'Of what?'

'Take him to his destination, and hand him a spear.' Thanos told the guards. Two soldiers rushed in and pulled a bag over him head. He was shoved and pulled away. The bag didn't do much. Loki knew the palace by heart. He felt they went down a spiral staircase, and when they got to the ground floor, led him out from the front entrance and into the city.

And then he lost track. There seemed to be a lot of arguing and debating between the soldiers as to where they should ditch him. Then finally, he was released from the chains and pushed down a hole. Something metal knocked the back of his head.

Loki quickly pulled the bag off his head. The metal thing was a spear. He looked up and found the hole was too deep to climb or jump out.

If only he conserved some magic for situations like this. But perhaps, healing his injuries was more important. It wouldn't do to crawl around.

Loki pressed his back against the ice wall, and waited.

OOO

'We can't let Natasha die!'

'But we can't hand over the Tesseract and the Chitari Scepter!'

'Natasha is important!'

'Handing over these OP things will only cost more lives!'

'Stop! This will not solve anything!' Steve pushed Clint and Tony away from each other.

'Then do you have any idea what to do?'

'No…?'

'And we only have five days left!' Clint cried out in despair. Personally Steve will think he had gone mad.

'When are Thor, Hela and Elixir going to come back?' Peter asked. 'What if they are in trouble?'

Everyone sat in silence, unable to come up with any plan to the situation. There's nothing they could do except for wait.

OOO

'Ceberus, find Loki!' Hela tried again. But her dog turned around in circles and looked up at her sadly.

'Can't you find him?'

The dog shook his three heads.

'Ceberus, go back to Hel and watch the gates. I have a feeling soon we will have visitors.'

The dog bounded into the shadow on the wall and disappeared.

This was really bad. If Loki couldn't be found by Ceberus, there was a good chance he couldn't be found by magic.

Hela was started to go down to check the other levels when the stairs suddenly disappeared. She went hurdling through empty space-

OOO

Clint knew they are going to sacrifice Natasha. There's no way they will give these things in exchange for her life.

And he couldn't get any other help either. Fury will definitely agree with Tony's idea. Cap will, too. Peter will not be taken into consideration for his young-age-whatever-

No. He smacked his forehead twice to get himself to calm down. There is still one person who might help him.

OOO

Thor swore he heard Hela's screaming.

'Hela!' He shouted and charged back upwards.

'Hela!' The palace echoed back. It seemed to be very empty.

'Uncle!' Hela's voice came from one of the corridors that branched off from the hall.

'Hela, are you alright?'

'I am fine, uncle. I found Loki!'

'Where?'

'Come!'

Thor stepped into the corridor, but Hela wasn't there.

'Over here!'

Thor followed the voice into another corridor, and stopped.

'Uncle, come on! We don't have much time. He's hurt badly-'

'You are fake.' Thor breathed.

A Chitari stepped out of nowhere, and pressed a button on the wall.

The floor opened up, but Thor reacted quickly and jumped backwards out of its way. He let his hammer fly and the alien was dead.

He retrieved his hammer. The sound of the commotion soon died away. Nothing else came at him. He looked down the pit and saw nothing but darkness.

What have they done with Hela?

Thor rushed out of the palace doors. The piece of land was bleak as he saw before, but there was a strange air of excitement in the air.

Excitement?

'To your positions!'

There was a loud roar and jeering from an invisible crowd. The big doors swung closed behind him with a bang.

'There are no rules! The last one standing will be free to leave!'

Thor then noticed a strange purple shimmer in the sky. A magic dome.

Arena.

He is someone's game.

'Let the Game to Death began!'

OOO

'Let the Game to Death began!'

Loki scrambled to his feet and grabbed the spear. The floor had risen, and he would soon be at ground level.

He would just have to fight his way out of a bunch of dumb beasts then.

OOO

Hela was awaken by the sudden noise. She jumped to her feet.

Oh no. What is going on?

OOO

As soon as the floor reached ground level, Elixir turned himself into Kitty-form and hid himself in the rubble. He would wait for the unwary to kill. Do not underestimate stealth, Loki had said before. It might make the difference between life and death…

OOO

Sif unsheathed her daggers. This should be easy.

And probably easy for Elixir too.

She wondered how he's doing in the different arena.

And she wondered how the Warrior Three are doing back at the cave.

OOO

'Achooooooo~~~'

'Shh!'

'But the Chitari left ages ago…'

'Yes, and they might still be around outside.'

The trio sat in silence. The fire was no more, and so was the ice wall sealing the entrance. They were very lucky the storm had died. Fandral was still confused what happened just then. He and his friends were awaken by a crash, and strangely enough, they were all bound up in a very, very oversized thick cloak. Hogun stopped his comrades from moving or making a sound until the shuffling around them were gone. Fandral swore he heard Sif and Elixir being taken away. Just thinking of it made him sick.

'Maybe they thought we are a bundle of clothes.' Volstagg said. 'And ignored us.'

'But they over turned the chest.' Hogun said. 'They wouldn't ignore a suspicious pile of clothing-'

Of course, Fandral thought. They knew nothing of what happened outside of the cloak. The best guess is that someone from the palace or nearby snatched them.

He stood up.

'We must hurry to the palace right now.'

'But I am hungry and frozen.' Volstagg shuddered. 'I don't want to move.'

'There will be fire and food there at the palace.' Fandral pulled him to his feet.

'Will there?' Volstagg's face lit up.

'Of course! (Loki and Elixir know how to make fire out of nothing, for goodness sake.) We can also go straight back to Asgard afterwards!'

'Let's go then! Onwards~' He swung his axe over his shoulder and rushed out of the cave.

Hogun shook his head.

'He won't remember anyway.' Fandral shrugged.

OOO

Thanos sat on his throne. The crowd of Chitari around him cheered and shouted.

He smiled.

Illusions were always his favorite thing.

OOO

Loki ran into an ogre with a club. The beast was small for his kind, but a lot faster. He wasn't as mindless either, Loki thought as his opponent deflected one of his quick jabs with his clumsy weapon. He used a wall for a jump and brought his spear down on the ogre, only to find the club fly out of nowhere and hit him in the stomach. He flew through the air and landed smack on his back. Gasping, he found the club flying magically back to its wielder.

What? How? Since when do ogres possess the power to manipulate magic?

The ogre brought his club down on Loki. He quickly held his spear horizontally and blocked the blow, but he knew soon either he would not be able to hold or the spear would snap.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed something glint off the spearhead.

 _Blond hair._

Loki was so shocked he didn't even see his opponent retreat and swing the club sideways, knocking him into a wall.

'Thor-' He managed. The illusion faded, and there was Thor coming towards him with Mjonir spinning in his hand.

OOO

Thor thought the Chitari will be easy to finish off, but it seemed like he was wrong. His fighting style was so familiar, it reminded him of something he couldn't quite catch.

The cowering Chitari uttered something.

Pleading for mercy? Thor thought and raised his hammer for a final blow. The Chitari started panicking and waved his hands around.

His movements were curious. He wasn't begging, he was trying to communicate something else.

Thor didn't lower his hammer, but he was confused.

The Chitari shook his head and grabbed the spear. Thor jumped back, but the Chitari didn't mean any harm. He handed the spear to him.

Cautiously, Thor took it in his free hand. The cold metal burned his palm, but he held it.

'What?' He questioned.

The Chitari reached out and turned the spear. The blade shimmered and caught a reflection of the Chitari's face, then Loki's.

Thor jerked up, and there was Loki standing in front of him, battered and bruised.

'Brother!' Thor cried out, dropped both of the weapons and smothered him into a hug.

'Stop-' Loki gasped and struggled away. 'The others! All of us are in the same arena and we are all killing each other! We have to tell them before it's all too late!'

Thor let go of him reluctantly and picked up Mjonir.

'But what can we do? They will still see us as mosnters.' He handed the spear back to Loki.

'If we can get something shinny and large enough and-' Loki stopped himself. 'No, I will tackle Hela, you tackle Sif.'

'Why? What about Elixir?'

'Because I know Hela, and you know Sif. Elixir is more of an ambush person in this situation. If he is still himself, he will stay in one place and wait for someone to pass. Or, he will lash out, but obviously not knowing who your opponent is it will be a stupid idea-'

'Loki, we don't have time.'

'Yes, of course. Let's get this over with.' His brother gripped the spear, turned, and stalked away.

OOO

'You do realize they will never come with what you asked for.'

'It's a bargain Thanos is willing to play.'

A Chitari came in and whispered into the Other's ear. A sneer spread across him face.

'Go and bring him in.'

The Chitari nodded and left the room.

'They didn't come.' The Other chuckled. 'But _he_ did.'

Clint was escorted into the room. A group of Chitari behind him carried a heavy metal crate.

'Clint.' Natasha greeted him with a flat face. 'That's nice of you, but maybe you should fix a bit of your priorities.'

'I am simply being a human, Nat. Now, Ogre Face, I got what you wanted, give back what's not yours.'

The Other waved for his minions to check the crate. A Chitari rushed over with a crowbar. The group yanked and pushed, until suddenly the lid flipped open in an explosion of smoke that fill the room completely.

Someone grabbed Natasha and pulled her away.

'Clint!'

'I got this Nat.'

'No! Clint!'

The Other banished the smoke with a flourish of his arms and shouted for his soldiers after them.

'How did you find this place?'

'GPS.'

'What?'

'Kidding I don't know what super tech Coulson used but _DUCK!_ '

They dove to the ground. A grenade went off.

'Clint this is the worst idea-'

'One of them!' Clint pulled her around corners. 'Coulson is waiting outside-'

'They will follow us back to base!'

'And we will beat them again like last time!'

Clint pulled her into a room and locked the doors. He jumped onto a table and removed a panel from the ceiling.

'Wait, your cuffs.' He clicked on the buttons. It didn't work. He got out a pocket laser and, carefully, cut it apart.

The doors knocked off their hinges.

Natasha slinked up the air duct and scrambled though it. Clint close behind her.

'Won't they catch up?'

'That's why I got this.' Clint pulled out a shock grenade, clearly stolen from Tony, and tossed it behind him.

There was a loud hissing from underneath them, then silence.

'That should keep them busy for a sec. Keep going.'

'Not the best rescue plan I would've thought of.' Natasha muttered under her breath.


	18. Arena: Finished

It didn't take Thor long to cross paths with another Chitari. One sight of the design of the twin daggers and the skill put through confirmed his suspicions.

'Sif!' He cried out as he jumped away from the flurry of blades. But the Chitari didn't stop, or rather, tried harder to kill him.

Thor didn't know what to do. With his non-reflective weapon, he could only hope he lasts until Sif's blades reveal the truth for her.

OOO

Clint, Natasha and Coulson returned to Stark's building, only to find it bellowing smoke from several places. Fire licked the sides.

Before Coulson even landed the helicopter properly, the two jumped out and ran into the building. After finding the elevator was smashed down in the basement, they charged up the stairs.

'JARVIS?' Clint cried out.

'Yes, Agent Barton?' A crackling voice sounded from the corners of the building.

'What happened? Where is everyone?'

'Chitari squadrons hacked my system and attacked. Mr Stark was not prepared-'

'Where are they?'

'Top.'

'Right.' Clint huffed.

'They seemed to be angry.'

'Yep.'

'The Tesseract and the Chitari Scepter were stolen.'

Clint stopped in his tracks and raised his hands into the air in shock.

'SHI-'

OOO

'Director Fury-'

'Save you breath, Coulson. I still have one working eye.'

'Of course, sir, but-'

'But what?' Fury snapped. 'It's as clear as glass, Coulson! Clint made a stupid decision, thinking he just 'save the world', and now it will cost even more lives and our future!'

'No, sir, not about that.'

'Then what?'

'I just asked Tony to search where the signal from the Tesseract and the Chitari Sceptre are…'

'And?'

'They are not on Earth.'

OOO

Elixir found himself surrounded by armed Chitari soldiers. But that wasn't the worst part. Under normal circumstances, he would've turned into a dragon and roasted them in this instance, but for some reason, he's stuck as Kitty.

He had never felt so tiny and terrified before.

The Chitari jeered and kicked him around. They called him 'adorably weak thing'. He snarled and pounced, only to get caught by the scruff of his neck.

'No more fooling around!' One of them laughed.

The Chitari holding him grabbed something from his friend. A gold and silver staff, wickedly crafted, with a glowing blue stone set.

The blue seemed horribly familiar.

'Sweet dreams.' The Chitari whispered in his ear.

OOO

It was all his fault.

He should have known what _the Idiot_ would do.

What did the Chinese call it? Sound east hit west.

Or something like that… Damn translation.

He laid down on his back in the air duct and stared up at the ceiling. He was to blame for all the damage. Even Natasha was blaming him for being so irrational and acting on impulses. Coulson was in Shield-

The Shield Director would not be happy with him.

OOO

Hela came past no one so far, scoring the edges of the arena. She hoped to maybe find some weaker areas where she could break through, but so far came across none.

That was when she heard a deafening roar come from the opposite side. It sounded terrifying, which made her wonder why it only came now. She was just about to start towards the sound, when she saw a Dark ELf ran around the corner and stopped right in front of her.

'I am not interested in taking your life.' She said simply and started walking away, but the Dark Elf grabbed her.

'What?' She snapped. She was capable of turning him to dust if she needs to, but his moves were curious.

The Elf shook his head and lowered his spear. He pointed at himself, then pointed at Hela.

'You and me what?'

The Elf shook his head sadly again. And looked down at his spear. Its head was blunt and twisted.

'You want me to fix it?'

The Elf nodded furiously.

Hela wondered why in all the realms she would help a Dark Elf out, especially under these circumstances. Wasn't it because of them father died once? But she took the spear from him anyway, just to stop him from bugging her.

The blade straightened and polished itself. Hela turned the blade around. It caught her in the reflection, then the Dark Elf.

The familiar sharp features, black hair, green eyes-

'Father!' Hela leapt onto him and latched on. Loki lost his balance and fell backwards onto some ice.

'Can someone not greet me with a hug for once?' He groaned.

'Are you alright?'

'Are _you_ alright?'

'Better than ever.' She gave him a light peck on his forehead and helped him up to his feet. His armour was raggedy and torn.

'Is everybody like this then?' Hela suddenly got worried. 'Uncle is still out there, have you seen him?'

'Yes. He went to find Sif.'

'Lady Sif?'

'And apparently Elixir is also here-'

'Eli- But he was told to stay in Midgard! How did he-'

'Now it's not the time.' Loki picked up his spear and peered to the direction of the roar just then. 'It seemed like Elixir met something he felt is worth turning into an ice tiger for.'

'What if its uncle and Lady Sif?'

Loki sighed.

'Time to go save them again.'

'Wait,' Hela said as they started running. 'What did you see me as? I mean, if I saw you as a Dark Elf-'

'My daughter.' He replied simply, and left it at that.

OOO

Thor didn't mean to smash Sif through a wall, but it seemed to do the job quite nicely.

'Thor…' Sif moaned.

'Sorry!' Thor quickly grabbed her by the hand and yanked her up. Sif yelped.

'Just leave me alone for one sec-' Sif raised her hand up to stop Thor from causing more damage. 'Let me get my breath back-'

'The monster we just heard might be Elixir attacking Hela, or maybe also Loki-'

'So you found him?'

'Well, yes.'

'Good. Get this over with and get back home.' Sif shrugged her shoulders.

'What of the Warrior Three? Are they alright back in Asgard?'

'Actually, they came with me.'

'Then what of them?'

Sif shook her head tiredly.

'I have no idea…'

OOO

'Are you sure this is the way?'

'No.'

'Then what if we end up walking away from the palace? What if we never get there? What if when we did get there it is already too-'

'Volstagg?'

'What?'

'Shut your big blabber mouth.'

OOO

Loki was worried. After the roar from last time, everything was as silent as death. No crashing, no thundering, no more roaring or growling. What was Elixir doing?

They reached the opposite end and found at least a dozen Chitari frozen in a big block of ice. Big claw prints littered the snowy ground. A Chitari nearby had its guts ripped out.

'Elixir should be somewhere nearby.' Loki noted.

Then there was a loud sniff coming from behind them. Hela froze. Loki turned around slowly and found him face to face with a snarling creature. Its muzzle was covered in frost. Its eyes glinted blue.

'Elixir?' Loki whispered.

A claw raked through the air and threw Loki into the ice. The blow tore his arm into a bloody mess. Hela skidded over to him and formed a shield.

'What's he doing?!'

Loki had no idea. Something didn't seem right.

'Elixir!' He called out and he got back up to his feet. 'We are not your enemy!'

But the ice tiger didn't stop coming towards them.

'Are you sure this is Elixir?' Hela whispered.

'Can't be wrong…' But he wasn't sure anymore. He stood in defense behind Hela's shield. If only he saved his magic …

'The Chitari Sceptre, you said it controls people's mind, right?' Hela's voice wavered. 'What if-'

The ice tiger lunged.

OOO

A resonating 'PONG' echoed around Thor and Sif as they hurried through the streets.

'What was that?' Sif stopped in her tracks. 'Like something heavy crashed into something.'

'Dead end.' Thor said and punched a nearby structure to crumbs in frustration. 'I hate mazes.'

Together, they ran back the way they came.

OOO

Dazed, the beast stumbled backwards and shook its great head. Its eyes seemed to unfocus and dim to a shade of silver.

'Elixir, are you alright?' Hela wondered if the impact was enough to shock him out of control (if he was under control), or if she just gave him a permanent concussion.

The eyes glowed blue again and the tiger growled.

'It seemed like the connection was stronger.' Loki gripped his spear tighter. 'Hela, get your shield back-'

Before she could react, the tiger ripped its claws through the ground, tossing shards of ice at them. Hela found one no longer that a pin sinking into her arm. Frost shot across her skin.

'Hela!' Loki yelled as he whirled his spear around, knocking the rest out of the way. 'Pull it out!'

But the shard already disappeared inside of her.

'Blasted Odin!' Loki swore and tossed his spear at the creature, which yelped and dodged the throw.

'Hela! Don't move!'

'But it's just ice, father, I will be-'

'Not fine! It's poison that will kill you, not the ice!'

'Oh, poison…'

'Loki!' Thor shouted but skidded to a halt when he saw the beast.

Sif came into view a second later and froze. The illusions were broken too much to continue working.

'Don't move! Don't attack!' Loki shouted and threw his hands into the air. But Sif already threw one of her daggers. It hit the tiger's hind leg, and the tiger sank his teeth on Thor.

OOO

Thor struck the monster on the head with Mjonir, making it let go. The bite only left dents in his armour, but he wouldn't be so lucky next tiem.

'Loki! You alright?'

'I'm fine! Hela is poisoned! Elixir is the one you two just hit after I _specifically_ said not to!'

Thor hadn't seen Loki this irritated in a long time.

'What?' Sif said stupidly. 'That's Elixir?'

'Took you long enough with your brain.' Loki muttered.

The tiger prowled around Thor and Sif, not giving up on them yet. He also didn't seem to notice the blood flowing out freely from his leg.

'Then why is he attacking us?' Thor said as he whirled his hammer around, staring back into those foreign blue eyes.

'Under control…' Hela croaked.

'Save your breath.'

'Yep, the Goddess of Death feels like she's dying. What else is new…'

Elixir lunged again, catching Thor under his claw. Sif tried to get his attention by stabbing him repeatedly on his limbs, but Elixir seemed more determined to bite Thor's head off before dealing with anything else. Several times he got dangerously close.

Either Thor dies with his head off, or he dies from being crushed under the beast's weight. Neither sounded pretty to him.

'Loki!''

OOO

'Elixir! You listen to me!'

The beast turned around, but didn't let Thor or Sif free. His eyes burned with madness and craving. His claws seemed aching to tear flesh.

But under all of that, Loki was sure there was a spark of Elixir under there.

Loki couldn't bring himself to do it.

'Elixir! Let them go! It's me you want!'

But did he have a choice?

'Loki-' Thor gasped under the beast's weight.

'Monster! Get over here! Or is your piteous little courage failing to meet the wrath of the _Trickster_?' He hated using the nickname as much as he hated what he had to do. 'Come! Challenge me instead! I will send you down to Helheim.'

At that, Elixir ditched his prey and dashed towards him, with a trail of blood in the snow behind him. Loki became deaf to his comrades' callings. Thor was struggling to get up. Hela was screaming nothing. Sif threw her last dagger, which missed wildly.

Elixir pounced. His bloody jaws yawned wide, his fangs glistened. Loki ducked down. As the beast leapt over him, Loki closed his eyes and pushed upwards.

OOO

'Finally!' Volstagg cheered. 'The palace!'

Fandral grinned with an air of 'I am always right.'

Hogun felt uneasy. He could smell fresh blood in the air. Whoever's blood it was, it must not bode well.

OOO

Elixir blinked. What just happened? He was lying on his back on the cold ground. Blood was flowing freely out from his abdomen. Blood also soaked his right leg. Someone was next to him.

'I am sorry.' Loki said softly.

Elixir tried to smile. It hurts.

'You are alright…'

'I stabbed you.'

Elixir raised his head as much as he could manage. He saw everyone around him cowering in the snow, clearly hurt. He then lowered his head back down. It felt so heavy.

'I tried to kill everyone-'

'I need you to focus, Elixir. Remember the energy transferring theory you had?'

'The stupid one or the one you haven't tried?'

'Of course the one I haven't tried!'

Elixir closed his eyes and nodded.

'Yeah?'

Loki grasped his hand. Something warm fell in it.

'Then you know what to do.'

Even as everything blurred, even as his limbs began to feel numb and useless, a smile tugged on his lips.

The last thing he heard was his heartbeat slowing to a crawl.

OOO

Thor watched Loki searching frantically for a pulse. 'He is dead, it's not use' was on his lips, but he couldn't bring himself to do it.

'I'm sorry, Loki.' Sif placed one hand on Loki's shoulder. He swatted it away.

'Brother, Hela needs your help.' Thor said.

There was a long silence. Loki got up to his feet slowly and turned. His face was partially hidden by his hair.

'Let's leave this retched place.'

'But Elixir-' Hela gasped.

'Dead.'

No one argued anymore.


	19. Arena: Back to Earth

'Mr Stark, we have visitors on the roof top.'

Tony dropped his glass. He had been waiting for this update for so long he didn't register it at first.

'Who?'

'A group of people, including Hela, Thor, Loki-'

'Right right!' Tony ran over to the elevator and pressed the button multiple times. Then he remembered he hadn't got it fixed yet.

Without hesitating, he turned and charged up the stairs.

OOO

'So,' Peter said quietly. 'You killed Elixir.'

Loki brought his glass of milk to his lips, but didn't drink it.

'It was not his fault.' Thor said before stuffing another pop tart in his mouth.

'It is his fault.' Sif said. 'If he hadn't got caught in the first place-'

'It's not like I have a choice.' Loki said sourly.

'Don't argue. Not now.' Natasha said.

The dining table was quiet except for the savage noises made as the Asgardians devoured one pizza after another.

Hela coughed.

'Does Elixir go to Hel at all like mortals?' She asked Loki.

He frowned. That was a strange question coming from the Queen of Hel herself, but it was also interesting that he hadn't thought about it before. Sure, Elixir was no Asgardian or any other being within the World Tree, and certainly not a mortal, but he just assumed that was the only place to go.

'Why do you ask that? Has he not reached there?'

'No. Either it takes a long time, or maybe he just…' Hela looked like she would regret what she was about to say. "…Ceases to exist?'

'Wait,' Tony put his glass on the table. 'You guys are saying, you don't even know for sure that he's dead?'

'He had no pulse and his breathing stopped. So for your information, Stark, he's dead. And we didn't say he's not _dead_ , we are saying he's not in Hel yet.'

'I am just guessing maybe he's still alive. That's why he's not in Hel.'

'He is dead, Stark.'

'Why didn't you guys bring his body back?' Bruce asked.

Loki was about to explain when Hela came to his defense.

'Other than Thor carrying Sif and Loki carrying me, we also have to fight our way out of around a thousand armed Chitari soldiers and a mad titan sitting on his stupid chair shooting lasers at us. You go and try to carry a dead body then.'

'Didn't you guys meet up?' Tony gestured at the other Asgardians.

'We met outside of the palace grounds, and we are still terribly out numbered, if you can do the maths.'

'But then what if he's in hibernation or whatever like Loki did when he died?'

'Parker, father died and went to Hel- where we had a lovely chat and some tea and biscuits and you get the gist of it. I sent him back soon after. And even if Elixir arrives at Hel someone will have to somehow get his body back.'

'Just like that?'

'I am a frickin' Queen of your-worst-nightmare, mortal.' Hela rested her feet on the table. 'I can return souls and have no one give a damn about that.'

'Wait, does that mean-'

'Your girl Gwen? I will consider it.'

'I believe the poison still has an effect on you, daughter, maybe you should go and rest.'

'No dad, I am just grumpy. Someone fetch me more of this drink.'

'Clint, coffee~~'

'Yeah yeah I HEARD THAT!'

'What's wrong with Man of Hawk?' Thor sputtered through his full mouth.

'He traded the Tesseract and the Chitari Sceptre over for me.' Natasha said grumpily.

Loki choked on his milk. Hela sighed and patted on his back.

'It's because the Sceptre went over to their hands that Elixir died.' He breathed.

'How?' Tony was confused.

'It's because of the Septre Elixir is controlled. There are other ways of mind control, but the Sceptre has the strongest so far. It held a stronger connection than it usually does, too. We can't break it, and he's killing uncle and Sif, plus I am dy- sorry, poisoned, so-'

'So Loki stabbed him?'

'Didn't we go over this twice already?'

'You will still have to go over it again with Furious Fury.' Tony noted.

'Tell him I have a contagious disease that will make him fart glitter.'

'Daughter-'

'Yah whatever, dad.'

'But Fury will want proof, wouldn't he? He wouldn't trust anything without proof.'

'Beam him over to Jotunheim and let him go check the body.'

'You go and tell him that without getting bullets in you.'

'This is no time for sass, guys'

'Sass? What's this sass?'

'Is it a type of food? Can we eat it?'

'Volstagg no.'

'Thor, can I have another pop tart?'

'No, they are mine!'

'Clint-'

'I want your pop tart!'

'Never in the nine realms will I give it up!'

'POP 'ART!'

'NEVER!'

'Daughter let's get out of here-'

'Meh, I want to watch-'

'CLINT BARTON!'

'SHUT UP I AM COMING!'

OOO

'Two black birds?'

'Yes, my lord.'

'You mean ravens.'

'Y-yes, my lord.'

Thanos shrugged. What news could the two find anyway?

OOO

'Stark might have a point.' Hela said in a hushed voice. She didn't know how Loki would react. The racket from the dining area was still going on, some corridors away.

'Everything is a possibility right now, but Hela, now that we are alone,' Loki turned to face her. 'I would like to go over some details that may have been hidden from me.'

Hela was screaming internally. So he knew now. Damned Thanos probably spat everything to him in his constant rants.

'I didn't have a choice.' She may as well have squeaked.

'I know.' Her father embraced her.

Hela wasn't expecting this. She expected a lecture on what she should have done, or how stupid her decision is. Then she felt Loki was shaking.

'Are you alright?'

'I might need to sit down.' He muttered weakly. Hela realized he must be very depleted.

'I will go and ask Stark if there's a room available.'

'Then you will tell me everything.'

'Yes, of course I will.' Hela broke the embrace and headed back to the dining room.

OOO

'So, are the troubles over?' Coulson sounded shaken from his side of the call.

'It doesn't look like it~' Tony yawned.

'Mr Stark, I need your full attention now.'

'You will have one quarter, no more.'

'The Tesseract and the Chitari Sceptre disappeared merely minutes after being taken from your facility. According to your story, it is now with this Titan-'

'Thanos.' Goldilocks interrupted and returned to his food.

'-Thanos. It makes me wonder, is there any other use for them other than creating portals and controlling minds?'

'Uhh…' Tony looked back at Goldilocks. He didn't seem to be in the mood to do explaining. Loki and Hela were not available, and he doubted whether the other Asgadians know anything.

'I will get back to you on that.'

And the connection closed.

OOO

A lone Chitari soldier made its way to join the lines filing into the gigantic ships. Its breath formed puffs of mist in the chilling air. Hoisting its heavy weapon, it squeezed through the jabbering crowd, looking for something.

'Here!'

It turned around to find another Chitari waving.

'Why are you so late? I thought you got lost.'

'I kinda did.'

'If you didn't manage to get on the ship, you'll be ditched in this freezing place forever!'

'I got ice stuck in my armour and when I looked up, everyone was gone.'

'That ice isn't going to prevent you from getting on the ship, you can deal with it later! By the stars, grow a brain!'

The first Chitari didn't respond. It looked up at the colossal vessels being gradually filled up with soldiers, weapons, and equipment, as if wondering.

'They don't care for our wellbeing, do they?'

'Huh?'

'Even if we all died, they wouldn't care.'

'Probably. I'm going doing this for the fun.'

'You will die.'

'Why do you say so? Why are you acting so funny?'

The first Chitari's face twisted and scrunched up together. It was their version of a sneer.

'Oh I don't know, maybe because there's something among us, waiting.'

'Huh?'

'Kidding.'

'Oh.'

OOO

'You want to what?' Bruce stammered.

'It's not such a big deal!

'Yeah but certainly we can't do it unless we have an ex-'

'We do.'

'From what I heard, Dr Selvic is currently in Hawaii.'

'Not that expert! The other one!'

'Yeah but how does what he know apply what we are suppose to do?'

'How does what apply to what?' Hela asked.

Both Tony and Bruce jumped at the sight of her standing in the middle of their supposedly password-protected-heavy-security lab.

'How did you get in here?'

'I am going to be frank and say it's because the door was forcefully removed.' Hela said as she sat herself on a counter.

'Right, forgot about that.' Tony's eyes flitted over to where the Tesseract and the Sceptre _used to_ be on display.

'How's Loks?'

'Loks?'

'Loki.'

'Resting. Best not to bother him.'

'Shame. Wanted to ask him about something.'

'Tony-'

'So, Hell, is it?' Tony elbowed Bruce in the stomach, smiling.

'Hela.'

'Right. Hela, how much do you know about energy signals and intergalactic traveling?'

'I'm not as interested in them as scholars, but I do know a bit from reading.'

'Do you get the idea of tracking energy signals?'

'It's like tracking a person with a magical trace, right?'

'Well-'

'Uhhhh, sure!' Tony elbowed Bruce again. 'But a lot more complicated with our stuff- Just, do you think it's possible to track signals, intergalatically?' He looked at Bruce. 'Is that even a word?'

'Like, long-distance?'

'It will be too far -'

'Yeah!' Tony gave Bruce a look. 'Long distance.'

'I guess if you tap in some intergalactic traveling into your normal…' She indicated the computers. '…equipment, and get the tuning right and all-'

'Sure! Let's try that!'

'I'm leaving.' Bruce muttered as he hurried out of the lab.

OOO

'Hello?'

'Yeah Clint? How's grounded?'

'Shut up. Where are you?'

'Oh I don't know, under discipline at Shield base 'cause of disobeying orders…'

'Ha!'

'At least I'm not tending to the kitchen.'

'Hmph.'

'Anyway, I heard they are back?'

'Yep.'

'Oh right Clint, you better warn them.'

'For what?'

Wanda dropped her voice to a whisper.

'Fury sent people over. He's got a mic in the compound.'

'Oh.'

'Get them out of there-'

'Hello?'

'…'

'Damn it.' Clint cursed under his breath.

'What is it?' Natasha called. 'Coffee maker broke down again?'

'Um, Natasha… Yep, Natasha, I found this funny video. Bet you wouldn't be able to go through it without laughing.'

It was a good thing that the entire room was empty except for them. It wouldn't help if everyone else came crowding over.

Natasha sauntered over and leaned over the kitchen counter.

'I'll take the challenge.'

'Right.' Clint clicked into a note-taking app on his phone.

 _There's a mic/mics in the facility. Fury sent people. Wanda thinks he's going for those ass grad people._

He handed his phone to Natasha. She cracked a smile and typed:

 _Why? What have they done wrong?_

A ^&%$ load, Clint wanted to type. But instead:

 _I hve a feeling we'll find out._

 _I warn those upstairs. You warn those down._

'You will have to try harder to get me to laugh, Clint.' Natasha's eyes glittered like black gems.

'A smile counts.'

As Clint trudged off to the elevators (fixed with one simple wave by Loki), he thought about who might be downstairs. Tony and Bruce were definitely in their labs, but he wasn't sure about the others.

'Bruce? Stark?'

'Give us a minute.' Tony waved him off without even looking around. 'We're busy.'

'I can see that, but-'

'Hawkeye, right? Or do you prefer Clint?' The Queen of Death slid silently out of the shadows.

Clint caught himself before he yelped out loud.

'Just… Just Clint is fine.'

'I heard you never miss. Is that true?'

'Even if he does, he can probably count them off on one hand, and he shoots people for a living.' Tony backed up from his desk. 'It's done, Hel. Ready to try it out?'

'Sure.'

'Uh, Stark?'

'Mhmm?'

'Can you ask Jarvis to check for-'

'That can wait. Hel?'

'On it.' Hela put on a helmet of some sort with wires and blinking lights coming out of it. 'Is it working?'

'Hold on, I need to tune it-'

'Stark, this is really important-'

'Ah ha! Easier than I expected. You can do your magic wobbly-doo now.'

Hela conjured up a massive projection of a galaxy, she swiped it and it spun around. She looked very bored. Clint and Tony both stared at the magnificent display, at a complete lost of words. Sure, Tony had his holograms, but none of them were ever so breath taking.

'This might take a while.' She admitted.

'Jarvis, record this.'

'Already am, sir.'

'Right,' Clint rubbed his eyes. He forgot to blink. 'Tony, I have something really important to tell you-'

Hela gasped. Tony whirled around to his screens.

'Where?' Clint asked. 'Where?'

Hela took of the helmet, but looked too shocked to answer. When Tony turned back around, his face had paled at least five shades.

'Here.' He said quietly.

This is the last chapter from what I wrote a long time ago. Things aren't going great. I wasn't happy with the plot before, so I would admit to tweaking some things. In fact, I think my writing before was terrible. Re-reading them gave me a headache and a heart attack (sooooo many grammar mistakes D : ). But at least that means I have gotten better, and getting better is always good. Thank you again for all the support. Wouldn't have gotten here without you all.


End file.
